*Book source ~ Many thanks to Untreed Reads for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mark Cain is a private investigator at Cain & Abel Investigations. When a demon walks in and hires him to find a man who skipped out on a soul contract he has his first job in two weeks. He takes her money and starts looking for Stanley Livingston, CPA and star witness in a trial against a big time mobster. Cain is just another in a long list of people searching for Livingston.

First, I have to say I love the name Cain & Abel Investigations. Next, I had to giggle a bit at the search for Stanley Livingston. Am I the only one who found that humorous? Especially when Cain finds him (wearing a St. Christopher’s medal no less) and asks…well, you’ll just have to read it or dig up some history to guess why I laughed out loud. I also liked that the mobster’s name is Al Dante.

This short story is very well-written and funny with a great plot. For such a short story it feels like a much longer tale. Not the most observant person, I’m sure there are nuances I missed, but for the most part I think I picked up on them. And I loved the ending. Should Bracken write more stories about Mark Cain I would definitely read them. ( )