Book Review: Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen

Title: Murphy's Law (Molly Murphy #1)
Author: Rhys Bowen
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Kindle
This book would be rated: PG-13 for threatened sexual assaults

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I'm a big fan of Rhys Bowen's Her Royal Spyness mysteries. Yes, they're silly, and they can be predicable, and the last one was really, truly awful, but for some reason they're like caramel corn for me. I'm not sure I really like caramel corn, and I'd probably never seek it out as a dessert, but put a bowl of it in front of me and I will gladly inhale the whole thing.

There hasn't been a Her Royal Spyness book out in a while (which is probably a good thing, since it seems like the last one needed a little extra time to simmer), and a few weeks ago I was in need of a Rhys Bowen fix (okay, I lied, sometimes I do make caramel corn when I'm having a craving for it). I knew that Bowen also wrote another series (in fact, it was being widely "recommended for me" ever dang time I opened my Kindle). So score one for you, Amazon.com, because I bought the book.

Murphy's Law is the first in the Molly Murphy series. And if I had to characterize the two series, then Her Royal Spyness would be Ally McBeal, while Molly Murphy would be Private Practice. It's more straightforward, more serious, not nearly as silly. Just before the novel opens, Molly kills a man who is trying to rape her. She manages to escape from Ireland, where she is basically a peasant on this guy's estate, and when she arrives in England, through a serendipitous turn of events, soon finds herself on her way to American in charge of two small children who need to be brought to their father. Once they reach Ellis Island, Murphy witnesses a crime, and once she gets into NYC, she works to solve that crime. I see all sorts of predictable relationships set up in this first novel (the detective she ends up partnering with, for example, will definitely be a love interest). The book wasn't challenging or gritty, but it was a quick, entertaining read, and when I don't have anything on the top of my to-read pile, or I need a bit of escapism, I can definitely see myself turning to other books in this series.