Malice in Miami by Barbara Venkataraman

Malice in Miami is the sixth book in Barbara Venkataraman’s Jamie Quinn Mystery series.

My favorite author Barbara Venkataraman is back with the latest installment of Jamie Quinn Mystery series.

I might have waited for more than a year to read the latest Jamie Quinn but it was definitely worth the wait. Barbara is a versatile author; Barbara and I also share a ‘Bangalore’ connection but that’s a story for another day.

In Malice in Miami, we see Jamie Quinn, a divorce lawyer, wrestling snakes, attending an art Gala and much more. Kip, her beau, is back from Australia and is currently out of work. Meanwhile, Nelda, a lawyer with whom Jamie shares office space, wants Jamie to help her in filing a personal injury + paternity case.

Jamie’s best friend Grace and her beau Nick, Duke the PI and Herb, Jamie’s boss – they are all in the story. Jamie’s dad has finally moved to the USA but has problems adjusting – he was deported decades ago and still has flashbacks of the traumatic experience.

Jamie juggles between working for Herb’s art foundation and helping Nelda in serving the accused. Things go awry when Duke messes things up. Well, speaking of Duke, the guy is in for a huge surprise. Kip finds new buddies – want to catch pythons at night, anyone? Hiss…

To be clear, Kip’s new buddies are not pythons. For god’s sake, Kip is no Voldemort!

The storytelling is excellent, no doubt about it. A niggle or two aside, I definitely think this is one of the best in the series. Speaking of niggles, Jamie’s dad appears only in the first half of the story while the second half is more about the personal injury case, art theft and… no, not snakes.

The ending is superb. No, no, I am not talking about catching the perp red-handed or the appearance of a certain somebody who works in one of the Alphabet organization. Jamie and we readers are in for a surprise, surprise *grins* as the story ends.

An engaging mystery with a dash of quirky humor, excellent character portrayal and a fantastic ending. I absolutely enjoyed reading Malice in Miami.