Delilah West S.Ca PI, big business & environment related murder turns out to be jealosy

This is the third Delilah West book I've received from Brash Book and it is by far weakest. It's not Brash's fault, though, "Start Up" was originally published in 1991. For some reason Ms O'Callaghan felt the need to insert a large dose of back story into the beginning of this book. On and on the characters chatter. Numbing. My reading notes say "Boring book. Lots of talking. No plot movement.

I received an advance review copy of "Set Up" by Maxine O'Callaghan (Brash) through NetGalley.com. It was originally published in 1991 by St. Martins and reprinted in 1994 by Harlequin. ( )

This book was first published in 1991. Since I was reading mystery/thrillers at that time, I don't know how I missed this author. But I'm glad I finally found her; she is a really good writer. I loved this book so much that I have already purchased the first books of the series. I like that the author makes Delilah West a strong woman character. The plot was well written, the characters well developed. There is enough action and suspense to keep you interested and I didn't find any slow spots. I truly enjoyed the whole book and can't wait to start her other books, this time from the beginning of the series.
I received this free book from NetGalley for an honest review. ( )

This book was first published in 1991. Since I was reading mystery/thrillers at that time, I don't know how I missed this author. But I'm glad I finally found her; she is a really good writer. I loved this book so much that I have already purchased the first books of the series. I like that the author makes Delilah West a strong woman character. The plot was well written, the characters well developed. There is enough action and suspense to keep you interested and I didn't find any slow spots. I truly enjoyed the whole book and can't wait to start her other books, this time from the beginning of the series.
I received this free book from NetGalley for an honest review. ( )

Books began reissuing these books in digital format that I discovered this author and the Delilah West mysteries, which is one more reason why I love electronic books and e-readers.

In this fourth Delilah West mystery, we find our heroine doing much better, building a clientele and making a little money which has her living a more stable life. However, she is also quite aware that she has been receiving a little help from someone and that it's time to put a stop to it and stand on her own merits now.

But, life gets shaky in a hurry when Delilah falls victim to a set - up that eventually leads to murder. While the prime suspect certainly looks guilty, Delilah is positive she's innocent and sets out to find the real murderer.

I really like Delilah and if you are a fan of the Sue Grafton alphabet series, you will most likely find these books appealing. Told in first person, we are privy to all of Delilah's crime solving thoughts, her musings on her personal life, and are treated to her self deprecating humor, wit, and humanity. Despite the tough outer shell she presents, she's really a nice, caring person with human foibles and desires, and is someone I couldn't help but cheer for.

The story is pretty basic, and the plot is not really all that original, by today's standards, but there were some pretty tense and suspenseful moments along the way.

On a more personal note, Delilah's private life is still up in the air as far as romance is concerned and I'm hoping something will come from her relationship with Eric, who seems plenty contrite and is perhaps worthy of a chance.

One thing to keep in mind is the time frame these stories were written in. Although there was a brief cell phone reference, something that made me wonder if perhaps this was thrown in the digital version as an afterthought, in an attempt to modernize the story a little, because I'm thinking only a few people had cell phones in the early nineties. If that was indeed the case, it would have been better to have left that out, because it stuck out like a sore thumb. No internet, answering machines, and several other huge clues, make it obvious this book is not set in present day.

However, I thought the nostalgia was part of the story's charm, and rather liked the old school detective skills, which did not rely on computers and smart phones to do all the work.


This is a short read, well plotted and written, nice steady pacing, and a pretty solid mystery, despite it's ordinary storyline, and the action/suspense elements more than make up for anything lacking in that area. I enjoyed this whodunit and recommend it to anyone that likes reading mysteries. ( )