REVIEW: On Thin Ice by Alina Adams

This is the second mystery featuring Rebecca “Bex” Levy, skating researcher for 24/7 Sports Network. How does one describe Bex? Well - Bex is best described as more of a self-deprecating heroine. Adams inject just enough humor to make things interesting for her but the mystery is pretty simple but it’s the characters who make this series fun starting with Bex’s over the top, make- us- work- for- cheap -boss, Gil Cahill.

Bex Levy, researcher for the 24/7 network, has seen her share of current skating stars. But thirteen-year-old Jeremy Hunt may just be the future of figure skating. He’s got a winning smile, flawless technique, and more talent than most skaters twice his age. So, when his strangely protective father refuses to allow him to go to Nationals, and then vanishes with the boy, Bex knows there’s a better story off the ice than on.

This entry has Bex solving a ten-year old mystery that ends up in murder. Bex opens up old wounds and tries digging up the past of a potential ice-skating couple who just disappeared. This comes about when a mid-level coach name Toni, tells Bex that her student has what it takes to be a champion ice-skater. Wary, Bex meets with Toni and sees this potential champion for herself and is blown away.

Immediately Bex wants to do a featurette and exclusive of Jeremy Hunt, the new potential champion but Jeremy’s father, Craig Hunt, refuses to allow his son to compete at Nationals. Shocked - Bex is just dumbfounded by this turn of events. A parent who doesn’t want their kid to skate nationals? So to dig up news on Jeremy and his father, Bex has to talk to the dreaded ice-skating moms who seem to know everything there is to know about the competition.

During her informal investigation she keeps hearing about this “Robby Sharpton” and his former partner, Rachel and how they just vanished from skating competition. Since Jeremy’s father refuses to have his son be anyone’s exclusive on any sports network, Bex decides to do a featurette of “where are they now?” to recoup her lost wages and goes in search of a couple of past champion skaters who seem to have fallen off the face of the earth. She does track down Robby and finds that he spent most of is “missing” years in jail and divorced and that Rachel had started a travel agency. Bex is intrigued and starts asking a lot of the “wrong” questions about why Robby and Rachel broke up. Amidst rumor of rape and possible abuse, Bex sees a juicy story that will get her an exclusive but ends up getting somebody killed.

The mystery is pretty much straight forward. I guessed the culprit from the beginning. This series is not for those who want to be challenged but rather, it’s for those who enjoy a good tale with interesting characters. Bex is a nice amateur sleuth and violence thus far has been non-existent. I wasn’t blown away by the book but it was good. It’s a recommend. Thus far there has been no hint of a romance however the author did say that she would introduce one in book three, Death Drop. However, I didn’t miss it. The humor is never laugh out loud funny but it is full of self-deprecating humor. At times I felt that I was hit over the head with it but it was never fully distracting. I feel that Ms. Adams is getting better with her writing and look forward to the next installment of her Ice Skating Mysteries. If you like cozies, then you should give this series a try.

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