4 out of 5 stars
Drawing Blood is the second book in the Sketch In Crime mystery series by Deirdre Verne. While I did not enjoy this one quite as much as I did the first one, it was still a very enjoyable book.
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Brief Synopsis
CeCe Prentice and her Dumpster-diving pals are back on top . . . of a pile of trash
When Big Bob, manager of the town recycling center, goes missing, CeCe is worried about more than where she’ll score her next salvaged car. As one of the only people present when Bob’s body is recovered from under the weekly recycling haul, CeCe is able to identify witnesses and provide sketches of the scene. But when she’s startled by an unidentified woman at Bob’s empty house, CeCe’s artistic talents are challenged and her drawings come up short. With her observational skills on the fritz, CeCe joins Detective Frank DeRosa and her network of Freegan friends to re-create Big Bob’s life from the garbage up. The team is soon thrust into the underworld of recycling, where what appears to be junk could actually be the clue that saves a life.
(Source: Amazon book description)
Review
While this book is very important to the overall story arc of the series, I did not feel like the mystery portion of the book was that strong. I was far more interested in the personal drama that CeCe and Frank were going through as well as the growth of their relationship rather than who killed Big Bob.
While the two story lines converge towards the end of the story, I kind of wish they had converged earlier. It might have made me care about who killed Big Bob more. I didn’t know who the villain was before close to the end, which is a plus, but then again we didn’t even meet the villain until close to the end of the book, so that does limit being able to know who they are.
There are several things that we don’t know about until the end of the book and while some people like that type of plot, I’m not one of them. Yet, there were elements of the story that I really enjoyed, like watching CeCe and Frank’s relationship grow throughout the book. I enjoyed the part of the story line where CeCe and Frank were looking into whether or not CeCe had a daughter out there somewhere that she didn’t know about.
It was an enjoyable book overall and I do recommend it, but it was not as great as the first one in the series. Still, anyone interested in the series should not miss this book!
About the Author
Deirdre Verne is the author of Drawing Conclusions 
Valerie's Musings 