ENTERTAINMENT REALM

Dead Light District , by Jill Edmondson. Publisher: IGUANA (2011). Mystery. Paperback, 264 pages.

This is Jill Edmondson’s second Sasha Jackson novel and it’s even better than the fast-paced Blood and Groom. This time around a “Gentleman’s Club” proprietor hires private investigator Sasha Jacskon’s to find a missing call girl. The case provides ample dilemmas for outspoken feminist Sasha. Dead Light District makes the reader adore Sasha even more.

I’ve only been an investigator for about a year and a bit, and it’s a more challenging and dangerous job than I ever imagined. I got into sleuthing when I gave up on singing. There are days when the music biz in Toronto seems a more solid and stable profession than private investigating. And, there are times I really miss performing, although some would say that’s exactly what my current job entails.

Edmondson has added exactly the right amount of research to this novel to provide background information and advance the plot but not bog the reader down in details. Sasha learns about sex trafficking, sex trade and prostitution—probably more than she’d ever expected. It disgusts and scares Sasha to think about the mistreatment and exploitation of women throughout the world. This provides her with a moral dilemma at times in searching for the missing Mexican call girl, Mary Carmen. Did Mary Carmen leave on her own accord or was she kidnapped or did a former pimp find her? When a pimp is found murdered, for Sasha, all signs point to Mary Carmen and she’s not so sure that’s all that bad a thing. Couldn’t Mary Carmen have acted in self-defense? Edmondson has created the ideal character in Sasha Jackson—liberal morals, ex-drummer/singer turned PI, single woman over 35 who’s sassy and fun. Dead Light District makes the perfect summer read as it speeds along and follows Sasha’s train of thought as she works to solve the case.

purchase for Kindle on Amazon: Dead Light District (A Sasha Jackson Mystery)