When Dirk, Savannah’s best friend and old partner on the force, is arrested for a crime she knows he didn’t commit, everyone in her firm sets out to find the real culprit. Sugar and Spite is particularly appealing because Savannah is given the opportunity to dish out a richly deserved serving of sweet revenge.

Savannah describes her buddy Dirk as a co-dependent rescuer and dreads when his selfish ex-wife Polly comes to visit him, worrying he will fall for whatever line she is using on him now. Her worst fears are realized when Dirk calls to tell her Polly has been murdered in his living room with his gun. Then his neighbors tell the police that he and Polly had been arguing before they heard gunshots, and because she dies in his arms, he is covered with her blood, making matters look even worse. With the chief of police running for mayor in an upcoming election, Dirk is arrested without much delay.

Savannah pulls her co-workers together and explains the situation, and they all volunteer to help. Tammy, her young, computer-savvy assistant starts searching online to uncover anything pertinent in Polly’s background, while Ryan and John check out other clues. In the meantime, Savannah relies on her old contacts on the police department for information, including the city coroner and head of the police lab. The only viable clue leading away from Dirk is a distinctive hand-forged poniard with a snarling, gold-plated cobra head trimmed with jeweled eyes found under Polly’s body.

Savannah is a character that is vibrantly energetic, easygoing, and reliable. As the eldest of nine children, she and her grandmother had raised the younger children when her parents left, so she is quite capable of taking care of herself, her friends, and her clients. She is skilled as an amateur psychologist and is intuitive about people and discerning their motives. In addition, Savannah is not fashioned after the perfectly skinny models in magazines, but she has surplus of curves that men find very attractive and is a few years over forty with plenty of experience to share.

Although the good guys in the book wear white hats and the bad guys wear black, this isn’t a drawback as it makes it simpler to cheer for the winning side. The same can be said for the predictable plotline that moves quickly and includes several offbeat scenes that are funny, touching, and unpredictable.

Best of all, Sugar and Spite closes this chapter in Savannah’s life by providing her with the unique opportunity to turn the tables on her adversaries, and at the same time, the readers are able to cheer for the well-deserved punishment dished out to the villains.

--Monica Pope