This was a total impulse buy. I saw it on the counter at Booktrader of Hamilton and just picked it up.  I am so glad that I did!  Loved the characters, Rory and Zeke have a great relationship despite their ….umm ..differences.  The investigation was very well plotted, I did suspect who the culprit was but still fully enjoyed the book.  The tension and pacing was much more reminiscent of a thriller than the average cozy and that really kept me flipping the pages.   I don’t think that A Portrait of Crime Mystery is that popular a series, I read lots of book blogs and look on Goodreads and Amazon rec and had neve seen it before and I think that is because it does not fit so neatly into the “cozy genre”.

One death occurs “on screen” in the prologue and there is a decidedly  “not lighthearted fun” tone to the book that people have come to expect from cozies.  The characters are more realistic (other than one of them being a ghost) than the typical quirkiness that we associate with cozies.   Finally, Rory is a professional, currently working as a police sketch artist, she is still a detective complete with carrying a gun. I would highly recommend this book to both cozy mystery and other mystery fans.