A Matter of Trust: A Mia Quinn Mystery {a book review}

A Matter of Trust, by Lis Wiehl, is the first in a series featuring Mia Quinn, who works in the District Prosecutors office, prosecuting violent crimes. The book begins with Mia overhearing the murder of her friend Colleen who also works in the same office. So, of course, a huge concern is that she herself may not be safe, may be targeted for death, especially because 5 years earlier another prosecutor had been killed in exactly the same way as Colleen.

Mia is a widow, trying hard to raise her teenage son and 4 year old daughter after her husband died recently, leaving her with mountains of debt. She struggles with trying to find a balance in her home life and her two new cases at work, finding her friend and co-worker's murderer, plus trying to prove that a suicide of another teenager was brought about by the criminal actions of other teens. While she is investigating these teens, her own son is drawing further away from her as she demands too much from him.
Mia partners with Detective Charlie Carlson, who she distrusts because of actions he made a while back that caused someone she was prosecuting to walk free. How can she trust him to help bring Colleen's murderer to justice? They need to work together well, trying to cull the list of suspects, which instead of growing smaller seems to grow larger as the story develops. Was Colleen's murder related to her co-worker's? Was the killer gunning for prosecutors? Was there a more intimate or personal reason behind the murder?

The story is told in third person from multiple points of view, the main ones being Mia and Charlie, though at times we are seeing the story centered around her son Gabe and others. The characters were well developed and I really got to feel that I know them.

This story leaves the reader guessing until the end, which I loved. Just when you think you know what is going on, the author throws in another twist. Though some stories have twists that are awkward and not quite believable, Lis Wiehl has done a wonderful job of pulling the story together. She herself is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a former federal prosecutor, so she knows her "stuff" and makes sure her reader does as well.

The author did include some current controversial topics, which made me wonder at first if she was just trying to push her believes on the reader, but I was pleased to find that that was not the case.

I am looking forward to the next book in the series. A Matter of Trust was my first introduction to this author and I have already put all the books of another one of her series, The Triple Threat Series) on hold at the library.