Review of ‘Fair Game’ by Charlotte Mills

This was the really good lesbian crime mystery book I was hoping for. ‘Fair Game’ is the sequel to Mills’ hit book ‘Payback’. While I didn’t like this quite as much as Payback, I’m only talking about a quarter of a star difference here. This was a well-done sequel and I don’t really have any complaints.

This is Mills’s second book she has written this year. I’m sorry to say that her first book, ‘Body of Work’, didn’t work for me. Instead, it was really nice to see Mills get her crime/mystery magic back with this new book. It feels like Mills really connects with these characters and the setting of this series so that the books flow well. This series is a perfect fit for Mills and I hope we will get many more stories to come.

I do want to highly recommend reading these books in order. It is important to read ‘Payback’ before you start this book. Mills does do a good job of covering some of the important info from the first book, so you would not be that lost, but she also gives away major spoilers from ‘Payback’. If you read this book, got hooked, and wanted to go back and read book one, knowing the big twists and major spoilers would ruin what made ‘Payback’ so much fun. Plus, ‘Payback’ has the meet-cute and the start of the romance. Mills did a great job of making the romance just as good as the mystery in ‘Payback’ so you don’t want to miss it.

I was really happy about how much this book sucked me in. It was almost 3 am and I had to keep reading until I was finished. Don’t start this book too late or you will be up all night. The pace of this book was great. Just when things were slowing down, there would be a burst of excitement to get you flipping the pages again. And the book continued like that the whole way through so you were forced to keep reading in the best way possible.

Since this is the second book in the series, I wanted to be careful and keep things vague so I don’t spoiler anything for readers new to the series. I will say it was great to be with Helen and Lexi again. Helen’s great detective instincts with Lexi’s geekiness makes such a cute couple for a mystery series. And while the mystery is a pretty big focus of this book, I was glad that Mills spent time evolving their relationship too. What I’m most excited about is that Mills ended this story by giving a tease for book three. Mills writes this series so well that she might as well keep writing it while she is still inspired by the characters.

If you enjoyed the book ‘Payback’, chances are very high that you will enjoy this too. It was a strong sequel that I can easily recommend. If you are new to this series, stop, and go read ‘Payback’ first. You really will enjoy this series so much more by reading the books in order. Now, I just hope we don’t have to wait too long for book 3.
4.25 Stars.

An ARC was given to me for an honest review.