Den McHart and his partner Sylvia Price were on a stakeout at a local parking lot, hoping to catch a local high school football-related adult buying drugs to sell to kids. During the lookout the perpetrator shot Den in the knee forcing the detective to retire at age thirty-two.

Sylvia continued working at their detective agency with the help of longtime friend Detective Orlando Bateman of the Riverbend police department, and who was still in love with Sylvia.

The morning after Briar Point’s Mayor Thomas Julian, Junior announced his wedding to Naomi Deva was called off Naomi hired Sylvia to find the missing engagement ring Mayor Julian was demanding she return to him.

While she was still talking to Naomi, the nursing home where Sylvia’s mother was living on a trial basis called and told Sylvia she had to immediately find a different place for her mother to live because her trial period had passed and the home could not care for her.

Sylvia struggled with what to do for her mother’s care, how to handle the two men in her life, how keeping the detective agency open with little or no help, as she also tried to satisfy their client. The strong Christian knew she needed every bit of help she could get if she wanted to accomplish everything on her proverbial plate.

Retired and on the Rocks is the first in the Denim Blues Mysteries series by Karen Wiesner, the author of over one hundred novels including the Falcon’s Bend Series reviewed on this site. Her tagline is “Creating realistic, unforgettable characters one story at a time.” And she does it well.

Her characters are realistic and flawed, her stories well-plotted with numerous twists and turns that are guaranteed to keep readers turning pages as they personally get to know each of the main cast.

A strong Christian thread throughout the novel suggests the belief of the author, and her main character, and is a pleasant addition to the story without causing readers to feel pressured to change their viewpoint.

Although there is more than one thread to the story, the author is able to keep the novel smoothly and swiftly moving along. Emotions are often strong and used in an appropriate manner. It’s obvious to this reviewer that Ms. Wiesner takes her time to get her stories ready for public consumption. We are looking forward to the next installment in this series.

If you are interested in purchasing Retired and on the Rocks, it is available at Amazon

A special thank you goes to Karen Wiesner for providing us with a complimentary copy of this novel.