Sounds Like a Plan

Young (the Vernetta Henderson series) and Smith (The Unkind Hours) team up for a breezy if forgettable series launch starring Los Angeles PIs Mackenzie Cunningham and Jackson Jones. Princeton grad Mackenzie runs her operation out of an Inglewood strip mall, while Jackson’s swanky Century City office has sweeping views of Beverly Hills. Both young, Black, and talented, Mackenzie and Jackson consider each other friendly rivals. After shady lawyer Raymond Patterson independently hires each of them to track down Ashley Cross, the 24-year-old daughter of one of his clients, they cross paths during their respective investigations and reluctantly join forces, though Jackson’s smug superiority threatens to derail their alliance. Soon, they learn that Patterson has hired a third PI to find Ashley. After that investigator turns up dead, Mackenzie and Jackson are set up to take the fall, and they realize they have something far more sinister than a missing-person case on their hands. Young and Smith have fun writing Mackenzie and Jackson’s dueling voices, but the plot provides precious few surprises. Readers are unlikely to clamor for a sequel. Agent: Lucy Carson, Friedrich Agency. (July)