I’m a fan of Laura Griffin’s Tracers series, so it’s no real surprise that I enjoyed her first book in the spin-off Wolfe Security series, Desperate Girls. Much like Griffin’s other books, this is very much a romantic suspense novel that heavily features procedural elements.

When I first saw the cover and read the title, I wondered if Griffin had decided to try her hand at a psychological thriller, but no. Despite what the cover art hints at, and what the title tells us, there are no girls in this book, desperate or otherwise. Instead, the female characters are tough-as-nails professionals.

I tended to think of Griffin’s Tracers series as, CSI: We’re Going to Bonetown. Think lots of forensic analysis and sexytimes. Desperate Girls veers off into a slightly different track and is more Law & Order: Danger Boner. The dun-dun noise indicates that the hero has an erection, I guess.

Griffin still does a deep dive into the criminal justice system, with so much detail that it’s incredibly immersive, but this time she focuses mostly on the legal system.

Brynn Holloran used to be a prosecutor but now she’s working as a high profile defense attorney. She’s prepping for a big case when she learns that her former co-counsel was murdered in her home. Even more disturbing, the serial killer both women put in prison for life, James Corby, has escaped from prison. It’s a pretty safe bet that Corby is the killer, and that Brynn’s life is in danger.

Brynn’s boss hires Wolfe Security to keep her safe while the US Marshals hunt down Corby, and one of her bodyguards is former Secret Service Agent Erik Morgan. Erik is straight laced and by-the-book, so he’s pretty annoyed when he feels like Brynn isn’t taking her security seriously enough. If you’re worried Brynn is a TSTL heroine, don’t be. She’s trying to balance defending a man she believes is innocent of murder against hiding and waiting for the day Corby is apprehended. She’s unwilling to hand her case to another defense attorney and she firmly believes that her client’s life depends on her being in court and in front of the media.

So these two butt heads and of course there are pants feelings and illicit smoochings. While all of this is going on, Detective Lindsey Leary is working the murder case, trying to find some clue as to where Corby has gone to ground.

I loved how much detail we get about Brynn and her career choices. She explains why she moved from being a prosecutor to criminal defense. She contemplates her strategy, explaining to Erik why she likes teachers on juries and analyzing what kind of shoes will set the right tone with the jury. She’s smart and very capable and I loved peeking into her mind to understand how she does her job so well. We get less of Lindsey in this book (I suspect she’s sequel bait), but again, the scenes where she’s analyzing a crime scene or doing research on Corby’s past are informative without ever feeling dry.

Similar to my reaction to the Tracers novels, I found that the book’s strength was definitely with the mystery angle more than the romance plot. Desperate Girls lacks heat in a way that’s hard to articulate. The deep-dive into the details surrounding Corby’s case, the one Brynn is currently working on, or how a high profile security firm operates are excellent, but occasionally I felt like the romance was broken down into similar, studied details that diminished the emotion or sensuality of scenes. We also know that Brynn and Erik want each other more because we are told that and less by their actions.

Even though the mystery and romance elements were slightly out of balance, I was so immersed in the hunt for Corby, and in Brynn’s current case, that I didn’t mind. The strength of the mystery-thriller element held up the book and kept me in suspense. When I finally got to the conclusion, I found that I had missed the twist entirely and I was genuinely surprised by how the book ended. And while there is violence in this book, it mostly happens off stage.

If you love romance with some suspense elements, you might find Desperate Girls to be lacking the emotional tension you crave. If you’re a fan of a damn good mystery with strong female characters and lots of detail, and you don’t mind some sexytimes as a bonus, then I think you’ll love this book. For me, Desperate Girls has the potential to be a gateway book; I’m planning on using it to lure some of mystery-adoring friends over to the pink palace of romance.