In Body Wave by Nancy J. Cohen, Marla Shore, hairstylist and amateur snoop, gets a call from Stanley Kaufman, her controlling and emotionally abusive ex-husband. His third wife, Kim, has been murdered in a stabbing and he has been arrested for the crime. Since Marla has solved a few mysteries in the past, Stan wants her to find the murderer for him in order to clear his name. In exchange, Stan will sell her his half of a house that the pair co-owns. At Stan’s suggestion, Marla gets a job on Sundays taking care of Kim’s frail grandmother, Miriam Pearl, even though Marla has no actual nursing experience. But the family shows hostility towards Marla because she tries to help Miriam become more active, getting her out of bed to join the family for their regular dinner instead of eating baby food in bed, to which her regular nurse, Agnes, has confined her. Marla also insists on fixing Miriam’s hair and applying a little makeup to her face. She even takes Miriam to the mall. And the more she gets to know the selfish, bitter family, the more Marla becomes suspicious of the group of them.
In the meantime, Marla’s relationship with Dalton Vail, the police detective, progresses, and she starts to let her guard down with him. This is a significant move for her because she has been so traumatized by the control that Stan exerted over her that it has made her fear any real commitment. She takes a long day trip with Dalton to interview a televangelist who has some connection to Kim, but which they can’t determine. The couple’s physical relationship also moves forward, as they discuss having a sexual relationship.
Body Wave is a very enjoyable book, my favorite in the first four books of the series that are out on audio. The plot has some really creative twists, and it made me keep changing my guesses as to the identity of the murderer. The denouement was thoroughly exciting and led me to cheer on the good guys!
There is a creative scene where we get a lecture on tilapia as the detective snoops. I now know more about tilapia than I ever cared to know, but the whole scene was done so well that I wasn’t bored at all! The scene was impressive enough that when I found my husband cooking tilapia that night, I was able to have a genuine discussion about them with him!
As for the characters, I have come over the course of the four books to feel that I know Marla and Dalton personally, with their characters growing rounder and more in- depth each book, and I really cheered for their relationship to work out and for Marla to become able to open her heart to love and trust again. Stan shows his bad husband material all the more in this book, as he still tries to manipulate Marla and can’t see why he hasn’t been the perfect husband, despite three failed marriages, failures he blames entirely on the women and takes no responsibility for. I also loved the character of Miriam, who wakes up to life under the care of Marla and shows her own backbone. However, there were a lot of extra minor characters who knew Kim, and it did get confusing keeping all of them straight.
Mary Ann Jacobs does an excellent job of performing the audio edition of this book. She presents a unique attitude and uses strong timing and expression to convey the spirit and attitude of the book. I really like the sound of Jacobs’ voice and appreciate her performance.
I had a great experience listening to Body Wave, which I liked the best of the four books on audio. The series consists of 14 books in print or on Kindle, so I am anxious for the next books to be recorded for those of us who can’t read full length books visually. I appreciated the plot and the characters and really felt put into the world of the book. I give the book five stars!
Disclaimer: I was given this audiobook by the author, but that had no influence on my review.
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