THE HAMMETT HEX is book five in Victoria Abbott's very witty Book Collector cozy mystery series. Even though I'm addicted to this series, I was worried that I wouldn't like this installment as much, since most of Jordan's inner circle are not in this one. Happily, I loved reading THE HAMMETT HEX -- perhaps even more so than the previous book in the series. Book collector Jordan Bingham takes a holiday with Officer Tyler "Smiley" Dekker to San Francisco. The nebulous romantic relationship between Jordan and Dekker gets more defined in this story, but the many mysteries in THE HAMMETT HEX take center stage.

What starts out as a story with all the ingredients for a romantic idyll soon takes a turn toward the sinister. Victoria Abbott masterfully builds the suspense along with the level of danger to Jordan. THE HAMMETT HEX has some classic elements of a cozy mystery, but this is also a book that will get your pulse racing. The trip to San Francisco winds up being an opportunity for Tyler Dekker to reconnect with his estranged grandmother. At the same time Dekker and his grandmother are feeling the warm and fuzzies, shady characters galore erupt on the scene waving around guns, planting bugs, and destroying hotel rooms. I love how Jordan is a little bit Nancy Drew and a little bit Jason Bourne in this outing. Even though things happen in THE HAMMETT HEX that make Jordan feel out of her comfort zone, she definitely proves herself to be a clever and resourceful amateur female sleuth. Everything in THE HAMMETT HEX flows together nicely -- from scenes of masked intruders, missing dogs, and frantic wardrobe changes to heartwarming scenes of tea and cookies with grandma.

THE HAMMETT HEX has three things I love: San Francisco, Dashiell Hammett, and superlative storytelling from Victoria Abbott. This is a book that will hold cozy mystery fans spellbound. The specter of Jordan's Uncle Seamus and his exploits add to the slight film noir vibe that permeates the book. Readers familiar with this series will be very happy to know that Uncle Kev makes an appearance and brings his unique brand of chaos with him. The comical vignettes in THE HAMMETT HEX help to balance the suspense. I look forward to the next Victoria Abbott book.

Book Summary

The national bestselling author of The Marsh Madness takes rare book collector Jordan Bingham on a trip to San Francisco—home to Dashiell Hammett’s hard-boiled heroes—where nothing is as it seems.

On a getaway to the City by the Bay, book collector Jordan Bingham becomes entangled in a mystery with more twists than Lombard Street...

Jordan has been able to swing a romantic trip to San Francisco with Officer Tyler “Smiley” Dekker on one condition—she must return with a rare copy of Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest for her irascible employer, Vera Van Alst. For his own part, Smiley is full of surprises. He’s a Dashiell devotee himself—excited to be in the city of Hammett’s hard-boiled heroes like Sam Spade and the Continental Op—and also announces he plans to visit his previously unmentioned estranged grandmother, who lives in an old Victorian in Pacific Heights.

But the trip goes downhill fast when Jordan is pushed from a cable car and barely escapes death. And when a dark sedan tries to run the couple down, it’s clear someone’s after them—but who? Just like in Hammett’s world, nothing is quite what is seems...

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