Quarter to Midnight (New Orleans #1) by Karen Rose
Quarter to Midnight (New Orleans #1) by Karen Rose
Rocky Hebert walks into his death at quarter to midnight one New Orleans night. His son Gabe cannot accept the official verdict of suicide and enlists the help of the Burke Broussard Private Investigation Agency to discover the real cause of death.
PI Molly Sutton knows what it’s like to lose a father in tragic circumstances and will go to any lengths to crack the investigation, as she tries to fight off her growing feelings for Gabe.
They soon realise Rocky was working on an investigation of his own; one that threatened to expose the deep corruption going all the way to the top of the police department. And that the key to the puzzle lies with a young witness to a murder that happened years earlier: Xavier Morrow.
Review
Quarter to Midnight is the first novel in a new series set in New Orleans and is a slight departure in the sense our leading man, Gabe Hebert, is not in law enforcement and our leading lady, Molly Sutton, is a private investigator.
Gabe Hebert is shattered by the death of his father but he doesn’t believe the verdict that his father committed suicide and asks his father’s friend, Burke Broussard, now a private investigator, to look into his father’s death as he does not trust the police. Burke assigns Molly Sutton, a former marine, to protect Gabe and the pair are instantly attracted to each other. Molly has moved to New Orleans to start a new life with her sister after a traumatic incident saw Molly shooting her police officer brother-in-law in self-defence. However, Molly can’t afford to let romance distract her as she has to focus on keeping Gabe safe. As the investigation continues, people close to Gabe find themselves in danger and old secrets begin to re-surface.
As well as Molly and Gabe, we are introduced to a whole host of new characters who form the family dynamic that Rose likes to have in her books as well as being potential leading characters in future novels. Thankfully the numbers are lower in this novel as some of the previous books had way too many people included which made it hard to keep track. There are also appearances from characters we met previously in the Sacramento series and a cameo from a character from the Chicago series.
The elements of the plot are suspenseful enough but the main villain had to be one of the least interesting we’ve ever had in the Rose canon and there were no chills despite a high body count. The leading characters were not as engaging either and their romance just didn’t spark as it should have to the extent I found myself skipping past their intimate senses. My favourite character was actually Willa Mae, an older lawyer, with a sassy attitude, and I hope she manages to make a reappearance at some point as she probably has a few good stories to tell.
The setting in New Orleans was also disappointing as I didn’t really feel it was exploited enough and it just seemed like we were in a generic city in the States. There are other authors I’ve read who have the ability to make you feel like you are in a place with descriptive prose full of sights, sounds and smells but Rose only scratched the surface. I will continue to read this series though as I’ve already bought the next book but it is a disappointing start.
