Susan O’Brien’s Finding Sky presents an unlikely sleuth—divorcée Nicki Valentine, a woman so beset with child-care woes that it’s astounding she can even make it out of the house, let alone solve crimes. But appearances can be deceiving. Nicki, who is working on her master’s degree in forensic psychology, is a great organizer, and she knows how to use her free time (what little there is of it). Kenna, Nicki’s best friend, is about to adopt a child, but when the teenaged birth mother goes missing, Kenna appeals to the wannabe PI for help in locating the young woman. Good friend that she is, Nicki agrees, and begins combing the Virginia suburbs for clues, even though those clues lead her into dangerous gang territory. Nicki is smart enough to know that she doesn’t know enough, so she appeals for help from Dean, the hunky instructor at the PI academy she’s attending, and together they—but mainly Nicki—crack the case. Finding Sky has everything an astute reader could want in a woman-driven cozy: a plausible plot, a smart protagonist, sex appeal, and two adorable, if overactive, children. Thanks to the book’s savvy author, Finding Sky is eminently believable, too. Susan O’Brien is a registered private investigator who is well aware of the legal limitations PIs must adhere to, so she hasn’t written Nicki as a crime-fighting superwoman who solves crime using methods that in the real world, would land her in jail. Instead, O’Brien has written one of the most warm-hearted yet realistic cozies I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. I can’t wait to meet up with Nicki again.