Following the Kelly Pruett and Misty Pines mystery series, Mary Keliikoa dives into a mystery muddle with Oregon paralegal Beth Ralston cutting out of her father’s law firm social event to tally up more billable hours. She enters associate attorney Craig Bartell’s office and finds blood flowing down his shirt. She stumbles from the office and sees her older sister Lindsay, an environmental journalist, boarding an elevator.

Beth finds Lindsay’s phone with an unsent message to her: Don’t ask. Don’t follow. Beth flashes back to their teen years, when Lindsay had said something similar knowing that Beth would follow her. Is this a secret code or a strict dictate? And the phone has a recent text from Craig. Beth conveniently forgets to mention to homicide detectives the phone or her sister’s presence --- and that she followed Lindsay to the parking garage only to find a suspicious SUV with someone inside.

"Keliikoa plays cat-and-mouse with the reader’s emotions. This mousy reader followed each misleading turn, only to find a Cheshire grin and a glint in the cat’s eye."

Beth doesn’t ask permission from her domineering father or a stern homicide detective but does follow an ambiguous trail of Lindsay’s contacts at homeless shelters and adoption agencies. Why would an environmental reporter hone in on substance abuse and adoption center employees? As the body count rises and her apartment is raided, Beth feels that “searching for Lindsay had put a target on my back.”

Speaking with someone who had addiction issues three decades ago, Beth learns that Lindsay and Craig had also chatted with her. And that mysterious SUV she saw the night of the murder keeps appearing whenever she speaks with the people Lindsay had interviewed. “These people didn’t like anyone making waves. Craig and my sister were looking to generate a tsunami.”

In her early 30s, Beth is an office worker, not a novice PI or a Miss Jane Marple. Her self-doubts and dysfunctional parents pull her in different directions. Her employment terminated and a detective popping in at inconvenient times strengthen her resolve to find Lindsay. She trusts nothing but her own intuition. This novel is written from the perspective of Beth, not a skilled investigator.

Despite a few cardboard characters better bumped off than left clinging to life, Keliikoa plays cat-and-mouse with the reader’s emotions. This mousy reader followed each misleading turn, only to find a Cheshire grin and a glint in the cat’s eye. DON’T ASK, DON’T FOLLOW is a must-read sizzling summer thriller.