Author Nancy Boyarsky has given us the fourth iteration of her Nicole Graves Mysteries series, with The Ransom: A Nicole Graves Mystery. When Nicole’s life takes an unexpected turn, she uncovers evil and corruption among the city’s most powerful people. I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll just say there were plenty of moments that kept me guessing, like a good mystery should. The intruders had disguised themselves so well that no one could give a physical description, except that the kidnappers were three in number and probably male. Now you get two points of view, the main focus being Nicole but a substantial although secondary focus on Stephanie.

When one of the riverboat passengers winds up dead, Nicole realizes this assignment was anything but straightforward.

By the time they arrived at her door, several of her neighbors were in the hall wanting to know what had happened. Nicole, through no fault of her own, gets swept up into events, and media coverage, that totally upend her life.

Nicole soon discovers that Ashley is not the person she claims to be, but her real identity remains a mystery.

Days later, under remarkably similar circumstances to the case she is investigating, someone near and dear to Nicole is kidnapped and a ransom of her full inheritance is demanded. Nicole flipped through the pages, noting the neat, feminine handwriting, which she presumed to be Ashley’s. Winning gave his life meaning; it was what made him happy, and he’d succeeded spectacularly—until now. She is torn between allowing the police to do their job, in the form of the rather dishy detective Arnault, or trying to negotiate the ransom payment and her sister’s safe release, direct with the kidnappers, especially when she realizes all the kidnappings may be linked and she may have a handle on the perpetrators. Nicole believes Abigail has been framed, but the victim's tight-knit circle of friends and relatives are most unwilling to talk to an American detective.