Evil in All Its Disguises by Hilary Davidson

I found Lily Moore with Hilary Davidson's first book, The Damage Done. What I loved about it, and the subsequent book in the series, was that it contained a good plot, characters that continued to grow and adjust to what life brought their way, and wonderful glimpses of other locations. Evil in All Its Disguises picks up after The Next One to Fall (though I think there's enough background given that each book could be read out of the series.) It also has an in person return of the delicious Brux, who I missed dreadfully in the last book.

Lily, who is a travel writer, has been offered a junket to Acapulco, and heads down south of the border. But things are just not right when she gets to the hotel. There's colleague/friend Skye, who, though known to be flighty, is worked up about some big secret, then goes missing. There are only a few other writers, no visible guests, and, for Lily, and unpleasant realization that the hotel belongs to the chain owned by her ex-fiance, a man she wants out of her life. And things keep not adding up, until Lily finds herself virtually a prisoner in the hotel, held for a bizarre ransom.

Though this book had much less of the travel writing I've come to love from Ms Davidson, there were moments when she teased with a little description of something Lily glimpsed from a window or heard second hand. Acapulco never quite came alive for me, either as beautiful or sinister, however the characters did. Lily's tormented sister, who died at the beginning of the first book, haunts her and provides a cynical, straight shooting moral compass. At one point, she tells Lily, "Deep down, you're pretty superficial", a line I would love to steal and store for sometime when I need a snappy comeback. The recurring characters, primarily Lily and Martin, continue to grow and evolve, keeping the story arc interesting.

I'm looking forward to book #4.