Book Review: Trouble Is My Business by Lisa Walker

First Published in Australia in August 2021 by Wakefield Press, the second book in the Olivia Grace Mysteries.

Add Trouble is My Business to your Goodreads TBR:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58021319-trouble-is-my-business

Purchase Links:

Wakefield Press:

https://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product.php?productid=1714

Booktopia:

https://www.booktopia.com.au/trouble-is-my-business-lisa-walker/book/9781743058442.html

Dymocks:

https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/trouble-is-my-business-by-lisa-walker-9781743058442

Angus & Robertson:

https://www.angusrobertson.com.au/books/trouble-is-my-business-lisa-walker/p/9781743058442

Amazon AU:

ISBN: 9781743058442

Australian RRP: $24.95

Format: Young Adult Mystery, Young Adult Contemporary Fiction

Page Count: 250

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sypnosis from Wakefield Press –

Olivia Grace, recently retired teen PI, has her priorities sorted. Pass first-year law, look after her little sister, and persuade her parents to come back from a Nepali monastery to resume … well, parenting. But after Olivia’s friend Abbey goes missing in Byron Bay, a short drive from Olivia’s Gold Coast home, she can’t sit back and study Torts. It’s time to go undercover as hippie-chick Nansea, in hippie-chic Byron Bay, hub of influencers and international tourism, and home of yoga, surfing and wellness culture.

Olivia’s looking for answers, with the help of her stash of disguises, the PI skills her irresistible ex-boss Rosco taught her – and a nose for trouble. Her suspects include a hardcore surfer who often argued with Abbey in the surf, a charismatic cult leader and an acrobatic botany student.

And then there’s Rosco, officially assigned to the case, and proving impossible to avoid.

Lisa Walker’s second Olivia Grace novel is another rip-roaring excursion into madcap sunshine noir, with nods to Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes, and a flavour of Veronica Mars meets Elmore Leonard.

My Review:

I received a copy of Trouble is My Business from Wakefield Press in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.

I absolutely loved the predecessor to this one, The Girl in the Gold Bikini, so I was super excited to reunite with the fabulously fresh and refreshingly awkward Olivia Grace, who’s character I instantly adored! It was such a treat being back with her for Trouble Is My Business, honestly it’s such a refreshing and fun read, with a tender mystery underlying that had me completely on edge throughout!

Right from the get go, I really found myself feeling for Olivia, who’s surely feeling like she’s got the weight of so much on her shoulders: looking after her delightfully sweet little Sister Jacq, having to grasp with her Parents being away working in a Nepali Monastry, slipping in Sherlockian quips and wise Buddha-esque quotes, hardly keeping a coherent conversation. Even though Olivia has stepped away from her sleuthing ways, she can’t quite shake the call of Private Investigating – especially when one of her closest friends, Abbey, goes missing!

It’s as she gets more involved and intrigued, determined to find out what’s happened to Abbey, that she dons the undercover disguise of Nansea, which I absolutely loved! The quips from Olivia’s/Nansea’s inner thoughts were absolutely hilarious and I love how she was able to switch between the two so efficiently, getting a flavour for some of the places that could be connected to what might have happened to Abbey, from the surf, to exploring a cult movement and almost everything in between! Whilst it is Rosco who is charged with taking the case, it’s Olivia Grace/Nansea at the forefront, not quite being able to shake the mystery! It definitely introduces her to all sorts of colourful characters, from Adam, the daring acrobat, to Citra, the larger than life leader of a very devoted, eccentric group (to say the least!), to the fellow surfer enthusiast, (though more competitive, didn’t like the idea of being shown up by a girl!) and everyone in between!

With Nansea at the ready, as well as the PI deductions learned from the not so elusive Rosco (her ex boss), Olivia Grace is absolutely fiercely determined to find out what’s happened to Abbey, I definitely feel like the fact that seen as it’s such a close friend of Olivia’s that went missing, there was definitely a lot of heart and tenderness packed into Trouble Is My Business! Consequently, I definitely found myself immersed and invested throughout, I needed Olivia to find Abbey, I loved reminiscing about their friendship as Olivia was thinking back about her old friend, wondering what has happened to her! There was definitely not a dull moment in Trouble Is My Business, I loved the sunny setting of Byron and The Gold Coast too, the writing was so luscious, I felt like I could feel the warm summer breeze and feel the choppy waves of the sea as I was reading!

If you’re looking for a fun, refreshing and altogether addictive Young Adult Mystery series to devour, with a fabulous main character, then you definitely need to read the Olivia Grace series – they’re nothing short of fabulous and I completely recommend them!

Happy Reading,

Brooklyn.