I liked this, but I do think it fell apart a little towards the end. While some of these Millhone books are straight mysteries, some add thriller elements in and this is one of those, except it doesn't quite hold together for me in that respect. I think Kinsey made it harder for herself than she needed to, and it might not have gone into thriller territory if she'd kept her head and not run haring off. I began to wonder if she was a little - not addled, but still affected by - the explosions of the last book. She felt jumpy, which is fair enough under the circumstances, but only if the story is aware of her jumpiness. It's one thing to present a character as making hasty decisions as a result of lingering trauma, and it's another to have the trauma and the hasty decisions and have the story not make the connection, averring that this is business as usual.

What I tend to like best about this protagonist is her sensible practicality, so I hope she goes home, gets hold of herself, and comes back in the next book a bit less jittery.