If the corpse had ever heard the phrase, One Day You’ll Burn, little did he know that today was that day. It was also the day his leg was partially eaten by a one-eyed coyote. It wasn’t the coyote’s fault. He did smell like carnitas.
It happened at the foot of an impromptu shrine to Phra Phrom, the Thai equivalent to Brahma. The eating—not the cooking. It’s just a day in the life of the Hollywood Station of LAPD.
New Detective, Tully, is part of new program where the highest scoring rookies were paired with veteran detectives in Hollywood Homicide or HH2. Tully had dropped out of a PhD program to become a cop. After acing the detective exam, he was paired with Morales, a veteran. Morales gives Tully the burnout victim as his first major case.
The plot I’ve written above sounds like it would be funny like Brooklyn Nine-Nine. However, it feels more like Instinct. You’re forgiven if you haven’t heard of Instinct. It was new on CBS last season but cancelled in August of 2019. It also involves a detective that goes on long asides featuring, you know, knowledge-y things. Its main problem? Too much smartness and not enough action or comedy. One Day You’ll Burn has the same issue. I realize this is the first book in a new series. Hopefully, all the introductions forced this book’s many long speeches about, basically, everything. I will read the next in the series but I hope the comedy is brought into sharper focus in that book. 3 stars for this one.
Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.