What I'm Reading: INDIE DARLING by Lauren Nossett

A thriller set in the Nashville music scene

I can’t tell you how happy I was to get to read this mystery. And it did not disappoint. Nossett set the story in the music scene in Nashville, which she knows well. The novel follows Kelly, a private detective with a love for Dolly Parton and a rule to only work for women. When a wildly popular singer named Seraph, a woman with a knack for drama and spectacle, enlists her to find her stalker, Kelly takes the case, wondering as much about the intensely private Seraph, as the stalker whose identity Kelly suspects Seraph already knows. But before Kelly can find out more, Seraph is shot in front of a packed audience and then her body disappears.

Not knowing whether Seraph is dead or alive, Kelly races the clock, hoping that finding the stalker will help the police find Seraph.

There is so much to say about this thriller. Kelly, the private investigator, is smart, plucky and also hiding something. It’s a joy to join her on this ride. The suspects are all interesting and creepy, although, truth be told, there were times I had a little trouble keeping her bandmates (both current and former) straight. I enjoyed the repartee between Kelly and her office mate and between Kelly and the police detective on the case.

Most fun was decoding, along with Kelly and all of Seraph’s fans, the breadcrumbs Seraph left in her lyrics, all original for this book. Not only is this a first rate mystery, but it’s also a love song to Nashville and a meditation on fame and the toll it takes.

I’m really hoping this will be the first in a series!

Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

INDIE DARLING is out now.