Stranger In The Room [Kindle Edition]

A grisly death for an innocent child leaves the Atlanta police dept. scratching heads. A second murder, at first seemingly unrelated, points to a serial killer with a clear & violent plan.
Lieutenant Aaron Rauser calls on his partner, detective agency boss Keye Street, to advise.
As she does so she pays the rent by doing some private work for a regular customer. Something decidedly odd has been going on at a crematorium that caters for the back end of nowhere.

The main character here is Keye, an oriental American with a hair trigger temper, struggling to avoid her alcoholic tendencies & look after a fussy cat & even fussier mother.
Her man, Aaron, is the usual 6ft + all loving, all laughing & understanding dreamboat that America aspires to. He may have a bit of humour but frankly he's a bore and offers nothing new to this genre.

Keye on the other hand is a hoot, avoiding the usual stereotypes and in particular having a genuinely funny sense of humour. Of course she wouldn't be allowed across the publishers desk without the obligatory 'hang-ups' but these play second fiddle to a character that is easily liked & very well written.

For me one of the best writing came when Keye was when working alongside her geeky, coffee obsessed employee Neil. They have a chemistry far more interesting than that of Keye & Aaron.

The story really is split into two with the rather less serious but infinitely more amusing crematorium case, (it's set in a town called 'Big Knob' so it's quite clearly the light relief..until the denouement that is).
The 'larger' serial killer case is closer to those involved and of more concern to the authorities but is deadly serious....

You'll have worked out what is going on with the lesser case well ahead of our heroine but it has some great moments and frankly stays in the mind longer than the other which has a bit of a hurried conclusion.

Not in the same league as the currently red hot Scandinavian bestsellers this nonetheless fills a gap. It's easily read but not a lightweight one, the lead character is something different & entertains too.
This is tough talking & the story gruesome in places. The time flew by with this one & I guess the ultimate recommendation is that I look forward to the next Keye Street story. Read more ›

This is well plotted investigatory type story set in Atlanta and starring a young Chinese American private eye, Keye Street. Keye is battling her personal demons in the form of a controlled addiction to drink, which is hardly an original idea but the author does manage to convey her daily battle against the bottle rather well. Keye herself is an interesting and well drawn character who is clearly set to appear in a series of books since this is her second.

There are references here and there to the earlier book, but I personally had not read it and did not find that this impeded my enjoyment of this story. Hence I confirm that there is no problem in reading this on a standalone basis. This time round Keye and her detective boyfriend, Rauser, are involved in researching several apparently unconnected killings, male and female, young and old etc. but eventually come to realise that there might possibly be an unlikely link between the cases. Meanwhile, Keye's cousin, Miki, has seemingly been the target of someone, possibly an ex boyfriend, who wishes her harm. As a side show, Keye has also been asked to investigate the strange case of a cremation company which has delivered an urn of cement powder rather than the ashes of a loved one which a bereaved family were expecting.

This is a well put together story, which despite being quite complex is very clearly narrated. The writing is good, snappy with plenty of interesting detail which keeps the reader engaged. A very competent tale and I will certainly be happy to read more about Keye Street should her next book come my way.

This book is griping a real page turner.The main character Keye Street,like all female leads these days is flawed,vulnerable,tough and of course very kind to animals. But don't let this put you off as she has a few more dimensions than a lot of a lot of other characters. She also has a healthy adult relationship with Rauser a police Lieutenant with homicide squad in Atlanta. Chinese orphan adopted by the very southern Street family. I will not give the plot away as I hate spoilers,but I will say there are some very dark and twisted crimes and they can be disturbing but is handled well. I strongly recommend this book.

The second novel to feature Private Investigator Keye Street carries on her good work in tracking down that seemingly staple diet of the crime/thriller genre; the serial killer. Yes, she is still battling her demons (drink) but is now in a relationship with Lieutenant Aaron Rauser, and seems all the happier for it.

As much as I enjoyed her first outing, author Williams' continuity flew out the window in the opening three pages. Street's cousin Miki is driving home at `almost eleven o'clock' on a Thursday night (let us say `almost' is about ten minutes to), gets home and finds an intruder in her house who runs off. Two pages later, P.I. Street answers a call from Miki at `ten-thirty' informing her of what has just happened. (A new final proof reader might be needed.) Not something to fill you with enthusiasm.

However, this is an Amanda Kyle Williams thriller, so any lost enthusiasm was re-ignited when the story got underway. (That continuity error is easily forgotten.) The descriptiveness is there, allowing you to be transported to the locations and imagining everything that is happening, something the author manages to convey with far more panache than many other writers of the same genre. We also discover more about Street herself, something that some may have wondered about from her first outing. This `difficult' second novel, and by that I mean making it at least as good as the first, is another top notch effort from Ms Williams.

Both Street and her technophile assistant Neil have some amusing lines of dialogue, especially when they travel to a crematorium in Big Knob and you can almost hear their sniggering each time the name is seen or mentioned. Maybe she and her sidekick are more of an item than we are led to believe.... The interplay between them is top notch, none more so than when they're in the house of a Mrs Stargell where they all act like ten year olds. In contrast, her and her current squeeze always call each other by their surname and their relationship doesn't appear to be as much fun. As in her last outing, Street finds everyone she meets, bar the perpetrators, drop dead gorgeous in some way. "...she flashed a smile that makes even straight girls get crushes", as she gives a bloodstain analyst the once over.

The only problem I can envisage with the Keye Street series is in the theme of the titles. `The Stranger you Seek', `Stranger in the Room' and her third, still work in progress, outing `Don't Talk to Strangers'. The covers of the first two are also very similar and it could cause confusion.

This is a fine, well crafted thriller with strong characters. As good as her first novel was, I think this is better. Read more ›