Hit and Run - bringing back a classic

Hit and Run 
Maxine O'Callaghan
Brash Books - release date February 2015
Delilah West is an old fashioned Private Investigator, she knocks on doors, she asks questions, she follows a trail, she gets kicked to the ground but she always gets back up. In this mystery (the third in the series) Delilah witnesses a hit and run accident. What seems cut and dried case turns out to have a few more twists and hazards for Delilah before she can say case closed.

Delilah is a take no prisoner kind of person and life has not been kind to her. Even though this the third book in the series you will be able to read it as a stand-alone as O’Callaghan provides the right amount of background at the right time.

The writing is snappy, engaging,  the action is plenty and Delilah makes a great character. She is tough, is carrying quite a bit of personal baggage and is trying to rebuild her life after some serious setbacks.

The mystery is complicated but not in the way of being bogged down with depth forensics, DNA or doing any psychological analysis, Deliah West just shakes the tree and see what will drop. I have to say that is refreshing as sometimes she manages to get it wrong and her fallibility is a good thing. She is not a perfect PI with all answers, she makes mistakes, judges people wrong but has the tenacity to keep going. When she does get it right you do appreciate that she has got there through hard work and persistence.

When I started to read this I had a feeling I had met the character of Deliah West before and I had having read the first book back in the 90s. It is good to see this series being given another run as O’Callaghan was a trailblazer as was Delilah

Give the series a go, you will not be disappointed as this is a good old fashioned detective story where the following the clues gets you to a result.

 

For more on the Delihah West books head over to Brash Books.