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Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder (Rumor Mill Press 2025) is not your mama’s police procedural, folks. In this sequel to Local Monsters, author Brandi Bradley has crafted a particularly riveting mystery by going heavy on character development instead of hitting the reader—boom, boom, boom—with chronological facts and forensics. Told from alternating points of view, the full story unfolds through the eyes of the victim’s best friend, the prime suspect, and the police detectives trying to get to the bottom of a baffling crime.
Ethan Moll’s murder is unfathomable to those who knew him. A successful entrepreneur (although no one seems to understand exactly what he does), Ethan was generally well-liked and respected. Flighty in romance, his recent break-up with Gabbi and her volatile reaction make her a natural suspect in the case—except that Gabbi seems to have her head in a higher, more spiritual dimension than the one in which Ethan died and others live. Some wonder if she’s really smart enough to kill and then cover her tracks.
Jenna and her fiancé, Ross, are Ethan’s long-time friends. Jenna took care of Ethan while he was alive—making sure he got to work, even driving him there herself—and she’s determined to look after him in death. While easygoing Ross is content to let the police do their job, Jenna is more proactive in the investigation. Convinced that Gabbi killed Ethan, Jenna takes the lead in pointing out clues, evidence, and opinions that are intended to ensure that her best friend’s murderer—and as far as Jenna’s concerned, that’s Gabbi—is locked away forever.
Detective Ian Boggs and Detective Lindy D’Arnaud are tasked with the investigation. Limited by the resources available to their small Western Kentucky police force, this intelligent and likeable team proceeds with the sort of methodical strategy you’d hope for in any investigation. Ethan’s family, business associates, clients, and even Gabbi’s former lovers come under scrutiny as Lindy and Boggs try to uncover the truth about Ethan’s life and death. They look for facts, they consider options and alternatives, and they build a case brick by brick. Bradley fleshes out these two characters as deftly and expertly as the others. Lindy, in particular, is depicted as a relatable female professional, juggling a demanding career with a complicated personal life involving April, Lindy’s wife, and April’s ex-boyfriend, with a growing suspicion about the nature of their relationship.
Our first encounter with Jenna, Ethan’s closest friend who acts as a sort of mother-figure, begins with her assertion “I never liked her.” Those four words establish Jenna’s personality without fanfare or extravagance. We get a first glimpse of Ethan’s girlfriend, Gabbi, through a post on her social media account: “Hello, Friends….I didn’t kill Ethan.”
With characters this rich and full, it would have been easy to lose the plot in private lives. Bradley, however, keeps control of her story all the way through the book, peeling back layers and revealing surprises, yet keeping the flow organic. Plotting and structure are rock solid here, as well, but Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder stands out for not resting on the usual tropes. Bradley proves herself a master of the craft by weaving together the best aspects different genres while never forgetting that her readers came looking for a mystery.
Brandi Bradley
Brandi Bradley is an Atlanta- based writer who loves to tell a good story. Her debut novel Mothers of the Missing Mermaid released on April 1, 2023 and is a family drama about a young woman who learns she had been kidnapped when she was a toddler and whisked away to be raised on the Emerald Coast. She also writes non-fiction essays about her flea market and rodeo days as well as short crime fiction.
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