A sign of a well written series is the ability of any one book in that series to stand alone. Jane Haseldine’s WORTH KILLING FOR is one such book in her Julia Gooden mystery series. Although this is her third book in the series and I haven’t read either of the first two, Haseldine did not leave me in the dark but ensured that I always knew at least what Julia knew. There, again, is a sign of a good mystery, that the reader makes discoveries along with the main character.

Julia is a newspaper reporter. Her parents abandoned her, along with her brother and sister, when she was 7 years old. Her 9-year-old brother, Ben, was kidnapped, and she never saw him again. With the sudden appearance of her father, it now looks like she may be able to learn what happened to Ben. She is assisted in doinig so by her boyfriend, a detective with the Detroit Police Department, and they run across all sorts of crooks. But, until the end, it's never apparent who’s a bad guy, who’s a friend, and who’s telling the truth or only part truth.

WORTH KILLING FOR is a sure winner of a Michigan Notable Book Award. The locations in this story are all in Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne Counties in Michigan.