Review: Mouse Trap (Clay Wolfe/Port Essex Mystery #3) by Matt Cost

Rating: 8.0/10

Synopsis

When Clay Wolfe is hired to find out who tried to steal a mouse, he thought it was akin to a fireman getting a cat out of a tree. It wasn’t.

When Clay Wolfe rekindles an old romance, the summer is looking bright. It wasn’t.

Who is the mysterious man who clubs Westy with a hammer and threatens the lives of everybody Clay Wolfe holds dear?

Now, Clive Miller was a fixer. He took care of problems that arose. Once given a task, his hands weren’t tied, and he was well-paid for his troubles. There were two simple rules. Eliminate the problem. Don’t draw attention. 

Review

Clay Wolfe and crew are back with another round of hijinks, thanks to author Matt Cost. I have liked this series because of the shenanigans, the budding romance, the action sequences, the sexy scenes, and the fun, ridiculous narratives. Sometimes, it is nice just to get lost in a trope-y mystery, and Mouse Trap provides just that.

That stability is one of the best parts of this series of books. With Clay et al, one always knows what one is going to get. They are pretty set as characters, and their is not much left to be developed. With each release, though, the reader does get more history about each character, which keeps them fresh. Also, their relationships do evolve, which is an interesting part of the story, especially the back and forth between Clay and Baylee. There are, of course, relationships with people outside the core group which change every book, and the author often uses these to spice things up. I enjoy this mix.

The one aspect of the book that sets each book in the series apart from the others is the plot; there are always huge changes to the narrative setup. In Mouse Trap, Clay and his companions get caught up with a technology company that specializes in gene splicing. I love how much science is included in this story; it is easy to see Cost did a lot of research. I thought that was cool to read about, plus all of the moral ambiguity that comes along with this type of lab work brings another element of drama to the story.

Mouse Trap is another good entry in the Clay Wolfe/Port Essex universe. I called the storyline “fun and ridiculous”, and I stick by that. As with the characters, author Matt Cost has this way of creating a push and pull with the story elements, like two sides of a coin that compliment each other. It is good writing, and for those read into lighter mysteries I recommend it.