Unthinkable by Clyde Phillips, a Mysterious Review.

Review: San Francisco homicide detectives Jane Candiotti and Kenny Marks are expecting their first child. Jane, now 40-years-old, has been ordered to take it easy, avoid stress at all costs. Easier said than done, especially when a shooting at a local restaurant takes the lives of six people, including Kenny's teenaged nephew Bobby, in Unthinkable, the fourth mystery in this series by Clyde Phillips.

The shootings took place right after lunch, when the register would have held the most amount of cash. The patrolmen arriving to the 9-1-1 call found the money drawer empty and six victims and an employee locked in the freezer, the only survivor. Though against departmental policy of allowing relatives to investigate a case involving a family member, Jane pleads with their supervisor to allow Kenny on the case. While Kenny does the footwork, Jane concentrates on the backgrounds of the victims, trying to determine if any were connected. When she learns that Bobby was carrying a small amount of marijuana in his pocket and another victim had a larger supply, she surmises a drug deal was going down at the time. But that deal seems unlikely to have been connected to the shooting … or was it?

Unthinkable is a well-structured police procedural, one that is much deeper than anticipated upon first glance. There is a lot going on here, but it's handled in a direct, methodical manner, one that's easy to follow yet still offers a surprise at the end. The relationship between Jane and Kenny is a strong and solid one, and despite the emotional element of Jane being pregnant and Kenny's nephew being gunned down, they work well together on both a personal and professional level. Fast paced with plenty of twists, this is a gripping and quite satisfying police thriller.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Unthinkable.

Unthinkable

A Jane Candiotti Mystery by Clyde Phillips