Review: Unpaid Dues

A new addition to the chronicles of Munch Mancini is always reason to rejoice. Since the debut, NO HUMAN INVOLVED, absolutely blew me away when I read it a few years back, I have savored each installment and eagerly awaited the next one. This, the sixth in the series, is a real triumph.

Munch is celebrating her eighth year of sobriety, working as a gas station mechanic with a limo business on the side. She raises her daughter, Asia, and generally keeps it together pretty well. But her past as a biker girl and junkie keeps coming back, over and over again. Seranella has mined this rich material in previous books, and manages to come up with even more revelations to fuel this book.

A woman's body is found in a storm drain, bound with rope and clutching what at first appears to be a baby but later turns out to be a doll. Mace St. John is on the case, and after IDing the corpse as Jane Ferrar, he takes a look at the deceased's arrest record--finding Munch's mug shot attached. Munch and Jane went way back, scoring drugs and hanging with sleazy biker dudes. They also shared a secret, which had laid dormant for a decade but comes roaring back to life.

At the same time, Rico Chacon, Munch's troubled lover, investigates a brutal triple homicide from ten years earlier. How it ties into Jane's murder, Munch's life, and the unexpected arrival of a strapping young teenager formerly known as Boogie is what drives the story along.

Seranella absolutely excels at making the reader care about her troubled characters. Munch tries her best to be a good mother, stay on the straight and narrow, but still hold back the demons and deal with the fact that her choices aren't always consistent, and may have damaging consequences. Each book has developed her further, and UNPAID DUES takes her to unexpected places. All the cops here--St. John, his partner Cassiletti, and Chacon--don't always do the right thing or take the black-and-white approach to policing, but that makes them more honest people.

Ultimately, while the plot twists and turns and comes to a conclusion that is less surprising than sad, it's about the bonds that tie people to other people--whether it be family, friends, partners and lovers--and how the past never quite goes away like it's supposed to. A Munch Mancini novel is one of the best reading experiences around because there's just such a richness of material still yet to be mined.

This is a series that manages to get fresher with each outing. And I can't wait to see where Seranella takes it from here.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Sarah - RAM

Book Review: Unpaid Dues