In Freezer Burn, by Gayle Carline, Peri Minneopa has cleaned her last house. A licensed P.I. now, she has moved from housecleaning to background checks and tailing cheating spouses. That is, until Benny Needles pays a call to her new office. Needles, the son of a former cleaning client, asks for help finding his Dean Martin ice cube tray. Who would think that such an innocuous request would lead to Minneopa’s involvement in solving two local murders.

This series installment wins high marks for development of the primary characters. Persistence is Minneopa’s middle name while Skip Carlton, her significant other, is a smart, likeable, patient detective for the local Placentia Police Department. Both become well-rounded characters in Carline’s hands. Benny Needles, Minneopa’s acquaintance, exhibits obsessive-compulsive behavior among other things. Needles’ fascination with Dean Martin turns his house into a kitschy, not very clean memorial to the Rat Pack member. In addition, Needles’ compulsions preclude almost anyone else from touching his mementos. At times, Carline’s characterization of Needles seems overdone, at other times right on the mark.

I consider this a good first installment of Carline’s Peri Minneopa series. The pace is brisk and moves the story along. However, the pacing and good characterization of the primary inhabitants—Peri, Skip and Benny—cannot overcome the anticlimactic discovery of the murderer’s identity and the reason for the murders. Without giving anything away, the denouement is somewhat disappointing, and the frozen hand is something of a red herring. But, generally, Freezer Burn by Gayle Carline is a pick. I enjoyed the book and will read others in the five-part series.

For insight on the newest book in the Peri Minneopa series, Murder Bytes, see my previous post.

(Dancing Corgi Press, © 2012)