Review by Frank Plowright

Good writers pick up on niggling details, and as far as Amy Devlin is concerned one of them has been how she can have two condos in Los Angeles while barely earning a penny. Christina Weir and Nunzio DeFilippis presumably introduced the idea of adjoining apartments just because it was neat and eccentric, but provide an explanation here. It exemplifies their writing talents, as not only is it an explanation, but it also ties in with a theme being established, and explains aspects of Amy’s diligent and persistent work ethic. The book ends with another loose end tied up, this time a flaw in previous All Saints Day, which is too late, but good that it was recognised and rectified.

What makes Amy likeable beyond that is her fallibility. She’s very intuitive when it comes to piecing the truth of old cases together, but not always the best at realising which toes might be stepped on. Also in her favour is a growing number of friends. Three of them return early here, although would-be film-maker Jordan Kale has made a massive maturity leap in what appears to be a few months.

For this final look at Amy’s life T.J. Kirsch is the artist, an improvement on last time out, with varied, clear storytelling, but also a tendency to draw people already seen and a pregnant woman as tall and thin. It’s a strange eccentricity, as if he can only picture people in one way.

While there have been vested interests in cases Amy’s investigated before, they’re nothing like the Life Sciences Institute, an extremely influential therapy group with many adherents in Hollywood, and adept at having lawyers close down investigations. They make for a formidable challenge, but there’s a bigger one coming Amy’s way that’s not dealt with here.

Despite the creator biographies promising DeFilippis and Weir are working on a new Amy Devlin story, it never manifested, which is a great shame. There were considerable reservations about All Saints Day, but this is the series back on track, very enjoyable, and well worth the time of any crime and mystery fan.