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Yellow Tape

By: Alicia Ellis
Publisher: Figmented Ink
Publication Date: July 18, 2024
ISBN: 978-1939452603
Reviewed by: Lily Andrews
Review Date: July 31, 2024

In Alicia Ellis's novel, Yellow Tape, the first in the Gray Girls Mysteries series, two half-sisters—an FBI agent and an IT specialist and former hacker—meet by chance in the horrific aftermath of their father's disappearance.

The news about their father's disappearance takes aback both Ivy and Rose Gray. Their father is a private investigator and man who has been much missed in their lives. Upon arriving at Gray Investigations, the two discover the dead body of his assistant, Anna Baxter, who had notified them of his disappearance. To their shock and dismay, the Oak County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating the case, names their father as the major suspect in Anna's murder.

To get the opportunity to interrogate a large number of individuals in the southern town of Willow Lake, Georgia, Ivy and Rose decide to investigate one of their father's continuing cases, which concerns a missing Monet painting owned by a VIP client. Surprisingly, the client offers to hand them a note she acquired from their father's office secretly in exchange for them waiving the investigation fees. As the investigation into suspicious parties affiliated with the client develops, one of them is discovered dead, and the painting is found in her possession. Unexpectedly, the client does not want the two to investigate the murder and further issues a terrifying message: "Tread carefully. Willow Lake can be quite unforgiving to those who stir its waters.”

The reader is in for a thrilling and unpredictable trip as two sisters who have not seen each other in twenty-eight years nervously stare each other down, each hoping to learn more about their missing father. Given their divergent viewpoints, backgrounds, and methods of operation, deciding to work together is an extremely challenging endeavor. Sibling rivalry continues to mount as they near an ultimately unclear discovery. Moreover, as they conduct their inquiry, a number of claims concerning their father and the deceased assistant intensify doubts that might further exacerbate the mental divide between him and his two daughters.

The compelling aspect of the writing is the author's ability to misdirect the sleuth reader owing to her amazing grasp of subtleties and a terrific sense of foreshadowing. And while she works to answer one mystery, other mysteries also start to appear, keeping the reader interested and involved the whole time. Fear and anxiety are skillfully evoked early in the novel by the clever use of the daughters’ resentment toward their missing father, which also prompts readers to consider their own actions in a similar circumstance.

Quill says: With its intricate relationships, dual narrative, hidden secrets, and cliffhangers, Yellow Tape by Alicia Ellis is an intelligently plotted mystery that soars above the level of extraordinary family dramas. A rereading may be necessary to dig up the nuances you may have left behind during the first reading.

For more information on Yellow Tape, please visit the author's website at: writeralicia.com