E.'s Reviews > The Stranger You Seek

At one time, Keye was at the top of her game. FBI profiler with the BAU, but her relationship with alcohol destroyed that. She has since moved back to Atlanta near her family, started her own PI firm, and tried to get her act together.

The characters and story are a unique blend of horrific and quirky. Her family is a blended one. Keye is Asian, her brother is black, adopted into a white southern family that can be warm or run cold on any given day. Her assistant is a pot smoking, slow driving computer hacker. They take on odd jobs to fill in the gaps between investigating or consulting for the Atlanta PD. Process serving, catching bail jumpers or even detection of a purloined cow in the North Georgia Mountains. These excursions add a little levity to the main story line, and added a lot of depth to the characters of Keye and those she works with.

Of course there's a killer, and Keye gets involved with putting a stop to them.
"... preying on the unsuspecting, writing taunting letters to the media, promising more death. ...A.P.D. lieutenant Aaron Rauser turns to the one person he knows can penetrate a deranged mind: ...Keye Street."

The story was solid and suspenseful. The dialogue was witty and colorful. The characters had personality. The setting was descriptive and was a character all it's own. I lived and worked in and around Atlanta for many years, Little Five Points, Buckhead and Decatur, and I could see every building, street and house so vividly!
I've read a few other reviews that complained about the mentioning of various character's sexual orientation, like it was a bit much. But I gotta say, that's a big part of Atlanta's demographic -gay folks. It was also somewhat integral to the story. Not only is Keye's brother gay, but a couple other characters were too, and it added to the "who's who and what's what" of the mystery.
There were a couple of "whoa, I didn't see that coming" twists, especially near the end. I liked that.

I couldn't decide what to read next after I finished this, so I picked up the next in this series, Stranger in the Room, and I'm enjoying it.
Suspenseful, procedural, thrilling, colorful, twisty and filled with southern wit, this is a winner!