Thank you ThrillerBookLoversThePulse #partner, for the advanced e-copy of Chase Harlem in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Rising Action Publishing
Published: June 17, 2025
Summary:
In the colorful chaos of New Orleans, Chase Harlem has three essentials for happiness: her trusted red Converse, a reliable taser, and a good sense of humor to survive it all. All she wants is a simple life – morning jogs in cemeteries, jazz that soothes the soul, and enough quirky cases to pay the bills without summoning her FBI past.
But when a priest waltzes into her office with a divine mandate to crack a grisly double homicide involving an LSU football star and his actress girlfriend, Chase’s plans for peace get thrown out like last week’s gumbo, especially when the priest’s estranged son lands square in the NOPD’s crosshairs.
With her best friend, a “maybe” boyfriend, and a teenage neighbor who’s too curious for her own good, Chase dives headfirst into a case that reminds her why she took up drinking in the first place.
From jazz joints to voodoo shops, Chase Harlem’s escapades through the Big Easy are a mix of mayhem and mirth as she juggles clues, cocktails, and the occasional alligator. Can she crack the case before it cracks her, or will she end up as the city’s next ghost tour attraction?
In this puzzle through the Crescent City, author Elise Burke Brown serves up a gumbo of mystery, mischief, and a side of sass that’ll leave readers thinking of the story long after the final page turns.
My thoughts:
Mark your calendars…we over at The Pulse – @thrillerbookloversthepulse – have another fun police procedural type mystery we can’t stop buzzing about! There is nothing I love more than a debut, especially when it is the potential start of a new series! You all know how much I love my series & this one is definitely one I’d love to get more of based on the setting, the characters and the mystery we were given in this 1st installment.
Chase Harlem is a former FBI profiler turned private investigator and right away, I was charmed by her quirky personality. While we have to wait a bit for her backstory to be revealed – mainly why she left the FBI – I quickly became invested in her character and didn’t care how long it took to find out. And I still think, even though we do get some answers, that we have only scratched the surface on all that makes her tick.
I love her no-nonsense, abrasive, sarcastic attitude at times. While she prefers to take on simple cases, like insurance fraud, against her better judgment, she agrees to investigate a double murder.
The murder mystery definitely kept me fully engaged, but this book is so much more than just that. It’s also got an emotional depth I wasn’t expecting. That side story about the kid in Chase’s apartment complex really surprised me the way it turned out and I’d love to get more of that storyline.
I also loved the way the author incorporated the local culture and setting into her writing. New Orleans is on my list of places to visit, so I always love reading books set there, especially when it comes alive like it does in this book!
As you can see, I really enjoyed this one – in fact, I binged it during my flight home from Ireland! I really hope this isn’t the last we see of Chase!
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