Vice and virtue

An alcoholic ex-cop attempts to clear herself of a clown's murder in this hilarious series launch from Klein (the Poppy McAllister mysteries). Layla Virtue was a member of Maryland's Potomac County Narcotics Unit before her career ended in disgrace. Six months later, she lives in a trailer park and survives on a diet of ramen and convenience store burritos. Desperate for money, Layla plans to support herself through music, her circumstances dire enough that she'll "play any venue for two hundred dollars." One such gig is an eight-year-old's birthday party, where Layla's limited repertoire (she knows no children's music and is ordered not to play "Baby Shark" despite several requests) proves only the second-biggest catastrophe after her fellow entertainer, Chuckles the Clown, dies of nicotine poisoning. An initial investigation suggests foul play and identifies Layla as the primary suspect, forcing her to dust off her sleuthing skills if she wants to stay out of jail. Layla is a lovably flawed, three-dimensional protagonist, and her sardonic humor will happily remind readers of Kinky Friedman ("Nothing says you've made a wrong turn in life like playing 'The Hokey Pokey' on electric guitar for an old couple's fiftieth wedding anniversary"). This is a winner. Agent: Annie Bomke, Annie Bomke Literary. (May)

Sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and murder in Northern Virginia. Layla Virtue's life is a mess. She quit the police force after her whole team was killed when she arrived for an operation a little late and a little tipsy. Though she doesn't remember getting drunk, she blames herself as much as her police friends blamed her. Now she's living in a trailer park filled with eccentrics and ekes out a living singing and playing the guitar at parties. As she's making out in an alley with her new neighbor, Nick Hayes--a hottie she just met while playing an anniversary-party gig--she hears a police radio, which sends her running. Then Nick's black Lab shows up at her door. The childhood friends who betrayed Layla in order to cash in on the fame of her father, rock superstar Don Virtue, taught her not to trust anyone. So when she goes to AA meetings, she usually avoids other members. This time, though, in a life-altering decision, she accepts friendly overtures from three women. Arriving home from the meeting, she's greeted by the Lab and her dad. Don, who seems spacier than ever, has a classic Aston Martin DB5 delivered to the trailer, gets Layla's TV service and Wi-Fi turned on, and takes her on an epic food shopping trip, but she refuses his help in jumpstarting her career. Instead, she reluctantly agrees to play at a kids' party whose other entertainer, sleazy clown Chuckles McCracken, ends up dead. Building on her relationships with Nick and her new friends, Layla accepts help in investigating the clown's death while desperately trying to keep her dad incognito. This perfect combination of mystery, humor, and romance explores serious social problems. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.