Risking It All (Fran Varady #4)

Ann Granger's Fran Varady novels take us to the streets of today's London where Fran, a young woman who is constantly struggling to find employment and a place to live, rubs shoulders with friends and foes, tramps, con men, cops, shopowners - and in this case also her dying mother. This is a shock because her mom walked out on Fran and her dad 14 years before, when Fran was 7 years old, and hadn't been heard from since. Now a sleazy PI finds Fran at her mom's request - and another shock follows when Fran gets to the hospice: Fran has a young half sister. And mom has a dying wish... Yes, this plunges Fran into a round of encounters with strangers all over town, and a dead body on her doorstep, and worse. Except for the fact that Fran is to her residences roughly what Janet Evanovich's protagonist Stephanie Plum is to her cars (a jinx to put it mildly), this was a satisfying and interesting book. Kim Hicks is the perfect performer for the Fran Varady books and she's in fine form on this one. Highly recommended.