The Scheme

Carson Crime Files, #1

by

Amethyst Drake

An intriguing missing person’s investigation launches this new mystery series.

The Scheme is the debut novel in author Amethyst Drake’s new mystery series, the Carson Crime Files, and kicks off with the puzzling disappearance of a young bio-medical graduate student at Johns Hopkins. The story uses a team approach to solve the case, and I was quickly drawn in, easily completing it in one sitting. 

Katherine Carson is the primary lead of the partners who make up Carson Investigations, and she takes on the case of the missing Olivia Ames at the behest of the girl’s wealthy and distraught father. The police have already looked into the case and decided he is overreacting. At 24 years of age, Olivia is clearly old enough to have left under her own steam; still, her father is insistent that she wouldn’t have left without letting him know where she was going. 

Sammi, the youngest employee at Carson Investigations, is tasked with checking out Olivia’s laptop for clues to what she might have been planning, but she disagrees with snooping into the woman’s affairs. Checking her social media for clues proves fruitless and serves as a reminder that online practices have changed significantly since the 2008 setting of this story. In her eagerness to prove she knows more than the investigators, Sammi reveals private information to a potential suspect, then gets upset when Katherine calls her out. 

The story is chock-full of interesting secondary characters whom the investigators encounter while searching for the missing girl. While some are good and helpful, others are pathetic and slimy, and one is more interested in the detective than the case itself. I really felt character development was one of the author’s strengths. 

As there are few clues to build on, Katherine and her team must start from scratch. Aspects of the case remind Katherine of trauma from her past, and it was hard to watch her as she struggled to get past her memories. The investigation resolves and, surprisingly, flows right into a new mystery with a cliffhanger ending. 

I recommend THE SCHEME to mystery readers who like private detective stories with strong female main characters. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tours.