Stranger in the Room

Keye Street #2

by Amanda Kyle Williams

Fresh from her debut, Amanda Kyle Williams delivers a second thrilling Keye Street novel, perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter and Patricia Cornwell.

That bullet was meant for you.
 
Summer is smoldering through Atlanta on Fourth of July weekend, as fireworks crack through the air and steam rises from the pavement on Peachtree. Private investigator and ex–FBI profiler Keye Street wants nothing more than a couple of quiet days alone with her boyfriend, Aaron—but, as usual, murder gets in the way.
 
I will find her.
 
A.P.D. Lieutenant Aaron Rauser is called to the disturbing scene of the strangling death of a thirteen-year-old boy. Meanwhile, Keye must deal with not one but two of her own investigations: In the hills of Creeklaw County, there’s a curious case involving chicken feed and a crematorium, and in Atlanta, Keye’s emotionally fragile cousin Miki is convinced she is being stalked. Given Miki’s history of drug abuse and mental problems, Keye is reluctant to accept her cousin’s tale of a threatening man inside her house late one night. But as a recovering alcoholic herself, Keye can’t exactly begrudge a woman her addictions—especially since Miki drives Keye to near-relapses at every turn. And yet, Miki is family, and Keye must help her—even if it means tempting her own demons.
 
I always find her.
 
All hell breaks loose when another murder—the apparent hanging of an elderly man—hits disturbingly close to home for Keye. And though the two victims have almost nothing in common, there are bizarre similarities between this case and that of Aaron’s strangled teen. Is there a single faceless predator, a calculating murderer targeting his prey at random? Only a skilled profiler like Keye Street can help the A.P.D. find him. With the threat of more deaths to come, Keye works on pure instinct alone—and soon realizes that a killer is circling ever closer to the people she loves the most.
 

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Audiobook

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Amanda Kyle Williams was an American crime writer best known for her Keye Street series that are psychologically complex thrillers. In 2013 The Stranger You Seek was shortlisted for the Private Eye Writers of America's Shamus Award. She also wrote the Madison McGuire series.

Williams spent her childhood between Colorado and Georgia. She began her writing career as a freelance writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. When she decided to experiment with writing crime fiction, she studied criminology to establish background knowledge, and worked with a private investigator firm in Atlanta.

Williams was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in February 2014. She died on August 31, 2018, in Decatur, Georgia.

Reviews

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys* · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok..so I'm caught up with this series. Now what the hell am I going to read? Write fast Amanda Kyle Williams.
Keye Street is probably one of my all time favorite female characters in any book. I frigging want to be her. She is an recovering alcoholic, fired FBI profiler,Krispy Kreme do-nut eating, coffee swilling, "hot mess"...and I love her. She is full of snark and tough as nails. She doesn't of course see it that way.
And well...she drives this.


This book involves her cousin Miki a troubled drama queen who is trying to tell everyone that she is being stalked. At first no one takes her seriously because well...she is a dingbat. I know she is Keye's family but dang I never really liked her. So anyways, she calls Keye to help her out when she comes home and says she sees a man in her house. That's one part of the story.
The second story line going involves Rauser (Keye's boyfriend) tracking down a killer of a young teen-aged boy.
Then you have Keye hunting down what's going on in a northeast GA crematorium. Yes...that part is in GA's unsavory history.

This author blends the story-lines perfectly..she writes about Georgia so well that I fall in love with our state all over again each time I read one of these books.

As to why I gave this book the five star? Mrs. Mary Kate Stargell

Mary Kate gazed at Neil while he shoveled food in a way that made me uncomfortable. I entertained a vivid fantasy of her in a pointy witch's hat, cackling over a steaming pot of children.

I want more of these characters!!!

[Paula Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

After the recuperating blow of the serial killer turning out to be a friend in Book #1 , Keye Street has taken a step back from the world of Police and Crimes and has stuck to the nice easy work of catching bail jumpers. That is until she recieves a phone call from her cousin Miki, her cousin's house was broken into and she believes she is being stalked. As a family obligation, Keye starts to look into it but as she digs deeper into Miki's life it seems that she may have alot of enemies including a line of unhappy ex-boyfriends as she seems to be the type of girl to Date and Dump. On the other side of things, it seems that the police have a serial killer on their hands and a crematorium that has been very dodgy and scarce on the ashes. With Aaron Rauser tracking down the serial killer angle , Keye takes a job in a smalltown called Big Knob which as quoted has a little Niagra Falls running through it. :P.
It seems that a local crematorium has been mixing up the ashes of the deceased as a few people have recieved instead of ashes cement mix and chicken feed. With the help of partner Neil and a local busybody neighbour Mary-Kay , can Keye get to the bottom of it and when she does , is it something she really wanted to uncover ? Meanwhile Miki is still being stalked and threats galore are turning up , what will happen when it is discovered that Miki's stalker and the unsub called "The Birthday Killer" are connected ? Is Miki next to die ?
Find out in another riveting and fast-paced mystery/serial killer novel by Amanda Kyle Williams. An author that if you haven't read her books - YOU MUST

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in a series featuring private investigator Keye Street. Street is a recovering alcoholic and former profiler with the FBI. She is fast becoming one of my favorite characters in detective series fiction. She is smart and witty. She is short but not anyone to mess with. She is based in Atlanta and in this story everyone is getting ready to celebrate the 4th of July. The story opens when Keye receives a call from her cousin asking for help claiming she is being stalked. Her cousin has her own history of drug abuse and other issues. The police don't appear to be taking it seriously and even Keye has her doubts. While Street is dealing with her cousin her boyfriend, A.P.D. Lieutenant Aaron Rauser, is called to the scene of the strangling death of a 13 year old boy. When a 90 year old man is found hanging in the home of Keye Street's cousin all hell breaks out. At first glance there does not appear to be any connection between the 13 year old and 90 year old victims but as the investigation continues strange similarities become apparent. When a connection is made with the recent murder of a prostitute in nearby Stone Mountain it becomes apparent that they are dealing with a serial killer. As one would expect in real life Keye Street is not working on just one case. In the midst of hunting for a serial killer and trying to stop him before her cousin, or anyone else, becomes the next victim Street is hired by a lawyer to investigate a crematorium that apparently placed cement mix and chicken feed in an urn. It is not funny but I could not help but laugh to myself as I read the part where Street, her assistant, and an elderly southern lady are sneaking into the crematorium in the middle of the night. The laughs stop though when Street, a serial killer, and a hurricane converge on the 4th of July weekend. Keye Street is a funny, realistic, powerfully human protagonist dealing with running her own business, relationships, and recovery. I have read the first two novels in the series The Stranger You Seek and this one. I plan on reading the third book in the series Don't Talk to Strangers and hope there will be others.

[Patricia Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good mystery. It was a pick for my Mystery Book Club and all members enjoyed it. Since we are in Georgia, it was really fun to read a story about our city. I loved all the characters and the cat! Very good mystery and I highly recommend.

[ᒪᗴᗩᕼ · Rating 3 out of 5]

➙ 3½⭐
➙ Narration 😀 = Good
➙ Narrated by 🎙️Ann Marie Lee
➙ Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
➙ Private 👁️‍🗨️Investigator
➙ Serial Killer🔪vibes

This second book in the Keye Street series didn’t grab me as the first one did. Each of these books has the main story that Keye is investigating and then a side investigation is thrown into the middle of the main one.

The side mystery this time around really left a vile taste in my mouth and I’m left wondering if something like that could even happen in this day and age...I really, really hope not. The main mystery took forever to go anywhere, which was in part due to the side mystery, I’m sure. Overall it was a lackluster addition to the series and it’s possible I won’t be continuing with the series...but only time will tell.


🅒🅐🅦🅟🅘🅛🅔 6.86/❿
🅒haracters ￫ 7
🅐tmosphere ￫ 6.5
🅦riting ￫ 6.5
🅟lot ￫ 7
🅘ntrigue ￫ 7.5
🅛ogic ￫ 7.5
🅔njoyment ￫ 6

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book by this author that I've read. It falls into the Crime/Mystery genre. I loved the MC. She was quirky, fun and extremely likable. So was her mother. I actually loved her mother's personality. The characters are what made this fun for me. They were drawn well, and the dialogue was well done. The author used it to add depth to the characters.

The "whodunit" portion was just okay for me. At times it felt a little forced, but that really wasn't any bother, because I was pulled in by the characters. So 3 stars.

[Kristina Coop-a-Loop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keye Street is the owner of her own business, Corporate Intelligence & Investigations. Her background in law enforcement and advanced degree in the area of criminal psychology help her with her private investigations. She sometimes also acts as a consultant for other police departments. Stranger in the Room is Amanda Kyle Williams’ second novel in the Keye Street series. This book is not as good as the first one, The Stranger You Seek, but it’s fast-paced and interesting and Keye and her partner Neil are fun companions for 300+ pages.

Miki Ashton, beautiful, wild, unpredictable, award-winning photographer suspects she is being watched. However, the police will not take her seriously because Miki is a drug user with a history that includes depression, psychological problems, and several stays in a mental hospital. One night she comes home, slightly drunk, and sees a man in her house. He makes a threatening gesture and Miki freaks out and calls 911. She also calls her cousin, Keye Street. Keye is well aware of Miki’s predilection for drama and drug use and although she doesn’t quite take her cousin seriously, she has Miki stay at her condo while she investigates Miki’s possible stalker. Meanwhile, her boyfriend, Aaron Rauser, a lieutenant in the Atlanta police department’s homicide division, is requesting her assistance in profiling a possible serial killer. Keye also accepts an assignment from Larry Quinn, a lawyer who often sends interesting investigations her way. Larry wants her to investigate a crematory that put bird feed and cement mix in an urn instead of the deceased family member’s ashes. Keye is a very busy woman.

I like Keye Street and her partner, Neil Donovan. She has a unique background—an Asian woman adopted by a Southern family when her grandparents were murdered during a robbery at their store. She’s also an alcoholic (sober four years I think) but she’s replaced that addiction with a love for Krispy Kreme doughnuts (yuck). She’s bad ass, but sometimes has more bad ass attitude than actual bad ass ability and ends up getting injured. Her cat is named “White Trash” because she rescued her from the Atlanta streets. Neil is a cyber criminal who Keye hired to handle all her computer and internet needs. He’s a techno-genius who makes amazing coffee and gets stoned at the office on a daily basis. While the brief author bio in this book does not say where the author lives, it has to be Atlanta. This book describes the South and Atlanta in particular very well.

The two major investigations in the novel are interesting reading. The crematory investigation is rather predicable and I had it figured out immediately. I mean, there are only so many reasons why a crematory isn’t cremating the dead people and putting cement mix in urns instead of human remains. The resolution of this story isn’t too surprising. However, the serial killer story and Miki’s stalker are connected and that one kept me guessing until the end. If you like fast-paced crime stories with a southern twist and sometimes outright humor, try Keye Street. But since it’s a series you may want to read them in order, if only to see the relationship between Keye and Aaron develop.

[Amy Lignor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book featuring Keye Street, a female detective living in Atlanta, Georgia who will remind many readers of a Kinsey Millhone (Sue Grafton’s unforgettable detective).

Keye is a woman with determination and willpower. Raised by an adoptive family, Keye has her share of upsets when it comes to dealing with a difficult relationship with her mom. An ex-cop, Keye has a few issues in her past that ejected her from the police force, so now she has her own P.I. business and is definitely the one you want to hire when things go bad. Her boyfriend, Aaron, is a police officer who is on the scale of ’dreamy,’ and also in Keye’s life is a co-worker who is technically brilliant but more than a little strange. Let’s just say that Keye’s main goal is that she always wants to see justice done…even if it kills her.

One evening Keye’s cousin, Miki, heads home and witnesses a stranger in her house. The first thing that comes to mind is: stalker! But when a corpse is found inside the home, the story brings to light other killings including a serial killer case that Keye works on as a consultant. If that isn’t enough, one of Keye’s private cases transforms from a small investigation into a hugely horrific case. Add Mother Nature to this very suspenseful and cool plot as Atlanta is hit with a tremendous storm that just about takes everyone out, and readers are given a compelling murder mystery with characters that just won’t quit.

As a review this one is difficult (not wanting to give anything away), but let’s just say this plot is fantastic! Keye is very laid back and has a great sense of humor; Neil (her odd co-worker) is usually high but always brilliant; Aaron is a quiet force; and Miki is the frightened character who definitely has a right to be afraid. This author has the unique (and very rare gift) of being able to keep things light even when the darkness arrives. It will be very interesting to see what Keye does next!

Until Next Time, Everybody,
Amy

(This review will appear in Suspense Magazine)

[Elvan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasure to read. I think Stranger in the Room is even better than The Stranger you Seek. Keye Street once again aids Lt. Rauser and the APD with her profiler skills as they hunt a killer but this time it's more personal for Street when her cousin becomes a target.

Keye's real job as a PI gets front and center page time when she is asked to investigate why cement and bird seed are found instead of cremains in a customers urn. Her case is so well written it almost eclipses the murder investigation. Creepy, graphic and so easy to visualize. I love it when a writer describes a scene so well that I am there with the MC. Great stuff.

It was nice to watch Street and Rauser's relationship continue to grow. These are not perfect people and Williams writes their imperfections into many scenes. Every time Rauser pops another Nicorette gum through the tinfoil wrapper or Keye wishes for a drink we see two ordinary people trying to get through life and past the demons that chase them.

The book lost a star when I figured out who the killer was as soon as they appeared on the page @ 75% of the way through, but otherwise a great read.

Looking forward to reading more Keye Street in the future.

[Angela Risner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Amanda Kyle Williams' second book featuring the character of P.I. Keye Street and it does not disappoint.

Keye is just trying to live day by day, as a recovering alcoholic and a former FBI agent. She runs her own private investigation firm, with her employee Neil, who handles all of the technical details. She is still dating Aaron Rauser, a police detective with the APD.

In this book, Keye's cousin Miki arrives home one night to find a strange man in her house. She escapes and asks Keye for help. However, Miki has a history of mental illness and drug abuse, so Keye is wondering if Miki is telling the truth. Rauser is dealing with the murder of a young boy and asks Keye to provide a fresh set of eyes on the case. And Keye gets a call from an attorney who wants her to investigate a crematory that may not be on the up-and-up.

I really enjoyed getting to know Keye's character more through this story. I also enjoyed all of the side characters.

Highly recommend if you're a fan of Karin Slaughter and Janet Evanovich, as Keye is a mixture of both main characters.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book (and series). Keye Street is a very likeable character along with her main squeeze Aaron Rauser and her cat "White Trash" (gotta love the name).

Ms. Williams captures the emotions head on especially in Keye's struggle with Alcoholism and her roots.

The serial killer this time has his sights set on Keye's cousin Miki - who is full of issues to begin with - but the serial also puts Keye in his sights.

We don't learn who he actually is until much later in the book, but we do learn lots about him through Keye's perceptive behavioral analysis!

Ms. Williams also has a great sense of humour to lighten the dark - The Booger Bandit and a crusty old woman calling Keye "Eggroll" - cracked me up.

Really, really like this series and can't wait for the next installment this coming July (2014) - "Don't Talk To Strangers".

2 thumbs up and 5 stars!

[Wendy T · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the suspense of this novel had. Great story!

[Robert Carraher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avoiding the sophomore jinx, Amanda Kyle Williams’, Keye Street remains the most interesting, cynically funny and smart series detective today. Keye entered the arena in last years knockout debut, The Stranger You Seek: A Novel (reviewed here). Recovered from her, and her lover’s (Atlanta PD Detective Lieutenant Aaron Rauser), near fatal battle with the serial killer known as “the Wishbone Killer”. Keye and her employee, the perpetually red-eyed high computer guru Neil, have settled back into the life and work of a private detective. Serving processes, arresting bail jumpers and keeping the local Krispy Kreme in business.

Life is good and if not quiet, it is at least a time for Keye to spend time navigating the mean streets of a romantic relationship with the obsessive and always on the job Rauser. They seem to pass in the night, him coming in at 3 a.m. fresh from a murder scene or a stake out, her wishing for more face time not to mention sack time, but as an ex-FBI psychological profiler understanding the pull of the job she is content for now. Besides, Rauser has just come from the scene of a senseless murder of a young, gifted teenage athlete. Strangled and staged just steps from his home.

Then Keye’s cousin, the sometimes suicidal, ever brilliant and sought after celebrity photographer, Miki Ashton intrudes into Keye’s life, bringing baggage that challenges Keye efforts to remain sober and drives a wedge between her and Rauser . Miki seems the polar opposite of Keye. She is a practicing alcoholic, drug abuser and psychologically dizzy black sheep party gal. When Miki returns home from a wild drunken night on the town and spots a masked stranger in her living room, she turns to Keye for protection. Keye and Miki have shared many childhood memories and remain as close as sisters, so Keye takes her in. After all, the police don’t take Miki’s report of an intruder serious as Miki has a habit of reporting stalking incidences that have little evidence they actually took place and the fact that Miki is obviously drunk and or drugged up do not help with her credibility. But Keye, out of familial obligation, gives her a bed and promises to check out ex-boyfriends, of which there are many, and to give Miki the space to calm down and maybe sober up.


“Stranger In The Room” by Amanda Kyle Williams available August 21, 2012When Keye and Neil go out of town to investigate and gather evidence for an Atlanta attorney with a possible big money civil suit in the works. The suspected provider of the golden goose is a crematorium that has delivered the ashes of a loved one that turn out to be a mix of cement and chicken feed. It seems the perfect opportunity to escape the heat of Atlanta in July and the turmoil of Miki’s life, if only for a little while. Not to mention a little harmless fun checking out a darkly comic screw up with a profit for a punch line. As an added bonus, it’s also the perfect opportunity to avoid a family 4th of July celebration with Keye’s adopted mother and father. But when a second set of fake ashes are discovered, the case seems to turn into more than a civil suit and when Keye and Neil uncover a gruesome and illegal tissue harvesting operation, any thought of a light-hearted get away are dashed. Then, Keye is called back to Atlanta when Miki, probably drunk, probably high and always self-absorbed and irresponsible, lets Keye’s cat out. Keye decides to deliver Miki back to her own home only to find a corpse hanging from a doorway. Soon the similarities between the murder of the man hanging in Miki’s house and the teenager start to becomes clear. Could it be another serial killer? And he or she seems to be able to get uncomfortably close to Keye and her family while stalking Miki. This stranger seems to, at will and without being recognized, stalks Miki and leave tantalizing clues, but for what purpose?

As Keye, now called in as a consultant on the case, along with the taciturn Rauser, try to make sense of the bewildering case and find the common thread between the victims they will have to overcome the heat of a Georgia July and the turmoil of their own relationship, the media, there own doubts and most importantly the stranger who seems to be able to enter the room unnoticed as the next victim is cut from the pack right under the nose of Atlanta’s finest.

Williams seems to effortlessly be able to write engaging multi-threaded hardboiled mysteries and balance a deeply examined psychological plot with a light hearted banter and complex, very human characters. She has shaken up the perfect cocktail of police procedural, hardboiled detective story, noir-ish villains, and thoroughly modern and oh so original stories. The tension buzzes like cicadas on a hot Georgia night and the pace is relentless. It all makes for thrilling explosive action to rival a 4th of July fireworks display.

Where the first novel had the added attraction of a sexual tension as Rauser and Street came together romantically, Stranger replaces that with Keye’s struggles against her addictions and the psychological scars that delving so deeply into the gruesome results of greed and obsession, of deranged killers, and the marks these leave on her psyche. This ability to shift the tension to another level shows a maturity in not just the authors writing ability but the ability to grow the depth of her character. Keye Street is no one trick pony and certainly no one hit wonder.


Williams was recognized as joining the front of the pack with Karin Slaughter and Patricia Cornwell in the ranks of female detective thriller writers. With Stranger in the Room she is ready to drop the gender qualification and run with the big boys to the the top of the best seller lists. Her sense of place will make you salivate for some downhome cooking and her dialog is some of the best in the craft. A perfect balance of a hard exterior and a miles deep introspective personality mark Keye Street as one of the most well developed protagonists in the genre since Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch. There is simply not a single weakness in Williams writing. Not a one.


Article first published as Book Review : Stranger In The Room by Amanda Kyle Williams on Blogcritics.

The Dirty Lowdown

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, especially the heroine, Keye Street. The snarky humor hit all the right notes too. Must get more books in this series.

[Scott Whitmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast-paced, intense, engrossing ... a wonderfully complex and flawed main character and a colorful and interesting supporting cast working through multiple plot lines that twist, turn and demand the reader put aside whatever else they had planned to read just one more chapter ... and then another.

Stranger in the Room by Amanda Kyle Williams (@AKyleWilliams) is better than the first Keye Street book, which is hard to believe because The Stranger You Seek was exceptionally good. This time out, the story kicks off as Keye, a disgraced FBI profiler turned Private Investigator/consultant, is summoned to the side of her cousin, who discovered a man in her house coming home from a party. The cousin is a bit flaky, with a track record of drug and alcohol abuse, cutting and bad relationships, and Keye initially dismisses the incident. Big mistake.

I don't do spoilers (which would be disastrous with these books as the plots are so wonderfully twisty), so let me just say like the first Keye book, this one starts off in high gear and never really slows down. There are many balls in the air, some of which may or may not intersect, as Keye goes about her business helping her cousin, running her PI business and helping the Atlanta Police Department hunt a brutal killer.

A third of the way through Stranger in the Room the major plot lines were laid out and I had no idea what was going to happen next, but I was totally locked in, engrossed, and could not wait to find out how/if/why/when any of it connected. I found the finale to be very satisfying on several levels, and honestly can't wait for the next installment to see what happens to Keye, her techno-wizard co-worker Neil and Atlanta PD Lieutenant Rauser.

Sitting down to review Stranger in the Room, I realized my reading of the first book of this series, The Stranger You Seek, came before I started writing reviews. But let me assure you, I recommend — highly recommend — both books to anyone looking for crime fiction/suspense thrillers with fast-paced and engaging storylines, and well-developed and interesting characters.

Both Stranger books feature the first-person view of Keye Street, a disgraced FBI profiler. Keye's heritage is Chinese, but she has no idea where her parents were and was adopted by white parents in Atlanta after her grandparents were brutally murdered in front of her. Raised to be a Southern woman (if you don't know what that means, that's something else this book will teach you) by a woman whose love is tightly held, Keye is an alcoholic, which ruined a promising Bureau career, marriage and nearly led to her own demise.

In short, Keye is flawed. Really flawed.

Seeing the world from her perspective is both entertaining and enlightening. She's quick to joke, but her struggle to remain sober, to forget the traumas of her past — some self-inflicted, others not — to come to terms with an upbringing that was an alien to her as the little Asian girl was to the neighbors of her adopted parents, make her a complex and wonderful protagonist.

In many ways, she reminds me of Lieutenant Harry Hole, the protagonist of Jo Nesbo's great series of crime thrillers set in Norway. Harry is also a drunk, and has his work-related demons, and I will never not want to read the next book in the series.

Getting to follow Keye through her new life as a Private Investigator would be enough to recommend these books, but the fact is the stories are equal to the character: tense, twisty and unpredictable. Again, this is a feature in common with Nesbo: wonderful characters taking part in complex, dark and utterly fascinating stories.

Each Stranger book features multiple plot-lines, some red herrings and a lot of wonderfully crafted prose capturing the scenes. I did two U.S. Navy tours in Georgia, about an hour from Atlanta, and Ms. Williams just nails the ambiance. I was transported back to warm, humid nights, sudden and violent storms, and the wonderful and various smells and tastes of life in that part of the country.

Keye's fledgling PI business includes corporate background checks, locating bail skips, serving papers and surveillance, but these alone are not enough to quell her desire to get back to work that matters: finding the worst of the worst criminals, the type of career she had and then lost at the FBI. So, she makes herself available to do some consulting work, and that's where the major plotlines for both books come into play as the Atlanta Police Department need her particular skills.

The supporting cast, which includes Atlanta PD Lieutenant Aaron Rauser and her techno-wizard co-worker Neil Donovan, has evolved through both books, and that's a trend that bodes very well for the future of this series. Keye herself has evolved as well, and gained some perspective, but through it all she has not lost the understanding that all of her gains could be lost in the blink of an eye.

[Lakis Fourouklas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have first met the heroine of Stranger in the Room, PI Keye Street, in the author’s previous novel The Stranger You Seek and I really liked her.

Keye is not your usual kind of detective. She’s an ex-alcoholic, still struggling with her addiction, who used to work for the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, and has degrees both in criminology and psychology; she’s tough; and she’s street smart, stubborn and absolutely funny.

And, finally, she believes what she wants to believe, until she’s proven wrong. Alas, in one of the cases that she’s called to investigate in this novel, she’s bound to be proven dead wrong, but perhaps that’s only because it has to do with family.

It all begins when her cousin Miki calls and asks for her help. She thinks that she’s been stalked. She can hear strange noises in and around her house, more often than not she can feel someone watching her, and just the other night she saw a man in her home.

Well, Keye, doesn’t take Miki, who’s a famous photographer, seriously at first, but when the body of a dead old man is found hanging in her house, she has no choice but to admit that she was wrong. But is that the work of a stalker, or of just some sick bastard?

That’s the big question, but as she’s struggling to make ends meet, she can’t spare the time to give it too much thought. For starters she has to visit a mountain community where strange things seem to happen when it comes to the local funeral home and crematory, and she also has to find a “runner”, someone who jumped bail.

While all these things happen, no one would dare say that her boyfriend’s life is less complicated. Aaron Rauser, who’s a homicide detective, has a few open cases on his desk, and as if these are not enough, now he’s also called to investigate the death of the man found in Miki’s home, as well as the murder of a young athlete, a thirteen year old kid.

Given the above, one would expect that their relationship would be complicated, but it’s nothing but. They respect each other’s work and space, and they appreciate each other’s intellect and capabilities. Keye would feel lost without Rauser, not only because, “He thinks I’m gorgeous, so I’m okay with his blurred vision”, but also because she knows that he’ll always be there for her.

Well, as the action starts gathering pace and corpses accumulate, the two of them will have to work together to solve at least the current cases, while at the same time they’ll have to get ready to spend some quality time with Keye’s somewhat unconventional parents and take care of Miki, as well as Neil – her once time employee and soon to be partner, who’s been unlucky enough to get in the way of a bullet.

The plot is great and so is the story, but what I mostly enjoyed in this book are the characters, even when they appear for brief cameo’s, like that old nosy and openly racist lady, Mary Kate Stargell; like Keye and her amazing sense of humor; like Neil, who’s almost always high; like Miki, who’s seen so much death and turned that death into art; and like Rauser, that quiet force of a man who more often than not sets the rules, but never seems to try too hard to impose them.

The crimes may serve as the vehicles, but it’s the passengers that make this book a hell of a ride.

[Kathleen Minde · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading her thriller, The Stranger You Seek, by Amanda Kyle Williams I was hoping she would continue with a series. The main reason? Her lead character, Keye Street. A PI working out of Atlanta, carrying lots of baggage, wonderfully flawed, tough and independent, Street is a welcome addition to the growing roster of women in the mystery/thriller genre. And with Williams' second novel, Stranger in The Room, readers see that Street will be around for awhile.

Street is a Chinese-American raised in Atlanta by Caucasian parents after the murder of her grandparents; a horrifying experience she witnessed and still remembers. Highly intelligent with a PhD, Street worked as a profiler for the Bureau until her self-destructive addiction to alcohol destroyed her career. Now four years clean, the recovering Street runs a detective agency with her computer genius co-worker, Neil. With the addition of her sexy best friend, now lover, Lieutenant Aaron Rauser of the APD, Street's life, while not perfect, is starting to improve.

One night, her cousin Miki, a talented photographer, also with self-destructive tendencies, calls in a panic. She saw a man wearing a mask hiding and waiting for her in her living room. The police find nothing and she needs Street's help, and support, to prove she's not just a crazy drugged out freak with a mental health history looking for attention. Growing up with Miki, Street knows she can be melodramatic, but she is willing to help out family.

When Rauser is called in after a thirteen year-old boy is found strangled to death, he also asks for Street's assistance. Her talent as a profiler has helped the Atlanta PD immensely in the past, most recently with the Wishbone Killer. After an elderly man is discovered murdered and grotesquely displayed in Miki's house, Street begins to think all three incidents are related. But how? And, why?

Because the APD does not pay her bills, Street and Neil take a case from a previous client and travel outside of Atlanta to discover why a dead woman's urn contains dry cement and not her ashes. They stumble upon a grisly secret that is based on real events from a few years ago.

Street misses her former job, she still feels the thrill of putting together the evidence to puzzle out a mystery. She also misses the thrill of alcohol coursing through her body and she has stubbornly avoided her AA meetings for two years. Her mind, constantly brainstorming, works overtime to help Rauser and Miki, and abstain from alcohol.

Williams has created in Street a compelling and likable heroine with a wicked sense of humor and tough as nails attitude. She's flawed, funny, intelligent, independent and has a cat named White Trash. Her boyfriend, Rauser, is smart, sensitive, professional, and hot. They make a great combination solving murders and as a couple. And Williams paces her mystery well with intriguing twists and macabre breakthroughs.

One does not need to read The Stranger You Seek before picking up this novel, but it is also a great mystery which also shows the evolving relationship of Rauser and Street from friends to lovers. I know Williams has already started her third Street novel, and I will definitely be in line to buy it

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year, I encountered and was delighted by the novel, The Stranger You Seek by Amanda Kyle Williams. Williams introduced the crime fighting detective, Keye Street, an Asian American, recovering alcoholic, female private investigator, raised by her adopted family in Atlanta, Georgia. Street was a refreshing addition to the female protagonist sub-genre of mysteries. Combining her quirky sense of humor with a startling mystery, Williams struck gold with her first novel.

In this second installment in the Keye Street series, we find Street getting on with her life, after the events of the previous novel. The high profile of her last case has lead to increased business for her private investigation firm, so much so that she and her stoner tech guy Niel are working harder than ever before. Her relationship with A.P.D. Lieutenant Aaron Rauser is slowly becoming more serious, and life seems to be in a good place.

When Keye receives a terrified call from her cousin, Miki, about an intruder in her home, she is skeptical of her accusations. The police on the scene find no evidence of an intrusion, and, given Miki's history of drug abuse and mental illness, Keye humors her cousins claims, but has no real intention to find anything. On top of this, she is investigating a strange case for a family who received an urn of chicken feed and concrete mix instead of their dead mother's ashes. Keye and Niel travel to the small town, ironically named Big Knob, to investigate this strange event. As they did deeper they uncover a shocking conspiracy that is sure to shock the small town.

Miki's claims become validated when a corpse, fitting the patterns of a sting of murders being investigated by Aaron Rauser, is discovered in her apartment. Even worse, the killer has set his sights on Miki and Keye as his next victims. The novel takes a "cat and mouse" turn as Keye races to discover the identity of the murder before he catches up to her.

Author Amanda Kyle Williams continues to expertly mix her quirky sensibilities with hear racing suspense in this followup novel. Keye Street is the kind of character that you instantly fall for and root for the entire novel. The story moves quick and consistently provides shocking twits and turns, keeping the reader thoroughly entertained. I felt that the resolution to this one was a bit too neat, but this novel is definitely worth the read.

[Magpie67 · Rating 5 out of 5]

1st book of the new year and what a ride! I loved The Stranger You Seek and book two in the series was even better! The realism, the crimes, the characters, the witty dialogue, the addictions.... all top notch quality. Gritty, stalking topic with a heavy dose of psychology and FBI profiling. Keye, once in the BAU department for the FBI is now a private eye and she is re-building her life after it went down the tubes from drinking. Still a recovering addict and she still wants to drink, a reality for all those who suffer. Keye is helping the Atlanta Police Department with a case that is somehow tied to her cousin which leaves her vulnerable to the media sharks. "Then a voice rose above the others. 'Are you sober? What's your recovery status?' Microphones crowded nearer. 'The friends and families of the eighteen million other recovering alcoholics in this country would probably tell you that recovery is a process. You take it a day at a time. I've been sober for over four years now.'" This title also gave Amanda more freedom to work her flawed character into understanding her adoptive mother more... or her therapy is helping her ask questions. It's the south and Amanda has worked in the racism aspect as well. We all have something in our personality factor that makes us tick a different way. Neil, Keye's employee soon to be partner, was over the top in this book too, I just love their working compatibility. Although there was the heavy undercurrent of crime and murder in this title, humor was well placed within the title and I enjoyed several bursts of out loud laughter as I turned the pages. I'm excited to see the private eye business boom and was sad that Keye's cousin didn't learn a lick of sense from her horrifying experience. Can't have a happy ending every single time with addictions, I know. Three cheers to the fact there is another title to read (Don't Talk to Strangers) and I hope Amanda continues the series because I'm sure I will have withdrawals, if I obtain a copy of the next book and devour just as quickly as book two. A+ also for the author being an animal advocate and for mixing animals into the story. Loved my first completed title of 2015!

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the excellence of her first, The Stranger You Seek (2011), The Stranger in the Room was disappointing. Williams went from warranting comparison to Sara Paretsky and Karin Slaughter to being just another hack mystery writer. It was obvious that she had worked to craft Stranger 1, whereas Stranger 2 was poorly written and dull, showing none of the craftsmanship of Stanger 1. The characters who sparkled in Stranger 1 were reduced to clichés of themselves and were not appealing. The reader could develop no rapport with them.

There were two separate stories with no relationship between them, creating what amounts to a jarring insertion into the main plot. The first story retold an actual 2002 incident in Georgia, although she made some changes to heighten, in her opinion, the tension and the dramatic horror. Usually the literary imagination can take a shocking incident and craft an even better story of it. Not this time. Since I more or less knew what to expect, I found her retelling tedious and lacking in any of the intrigue and compelling interest of the actual. I have no idea her purpose of spending so much time using this story in the context of a murder investigation because it had no connection whatsoever with the main plot line. One can't help but think that she was merely trying to fill her page quota.

The murder plot wasn't well developed and was so full of irrelevant "busyness" that it actually got lost in the "poor little me" and all the references to Keye's alcoholism. There is no "spark," nothing which engages the reader. I liked Keye Street and Aaron Rauser in Stranger 1; in Stranger 2, they're as cardboard as the Atlanta in which the story is set. Although the deus ex machina in the final scene will make for exciting cinema, it seems trite and artificial. I hope Williams will work harder on her next book. If it's no better than Stranger 2, I won't read her again. I do not recommend this book to mystery fans. It's poorly plotted and dull. The difference in the quality of her two books is astonishing.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a 3.5 star read for me. I hadn't read the author's previous novel featuring Keye Street, the protagonist, but this book stood well on its own. While the book contained several "murder mystery" cliches (protagonist with demons from past trauma, killer after a relative of protagonist, dramatic confrontation at the end of book), they were utilized well and created a gripping read. I especially appreciated the author's style: her prose was evocative and well thought out without bringing attention to itself, her dialogue flowed naturally. The characters felt real and were likable despite (or is it because of?) their innate human flaws--they were multi-layered and deliciously dysfunctional. The killer was scary, but he wasn't omniscient, which helped the believability of the story.

There were a couple loose ends that weren't tied up neatly that I felt should have been (who called room service for a meal and who let out Keye's cat?), but it didn't matter much in the end. My only large complaint, the one that will keep me from reading other books in this series, was the pervasive use of foul language. I don't mind a little swearing, but it was used casually and was unnecessary--the book would have been just as strong without it. The gore was graphic but not overdone.

I won't likely be recommending this book to my friends because of its crude content, but apart from that, the story was engaging, the pace exciting, and the characters compelling. The smoothness of the writing created stirring imagery, and the story won't be easily forgotten.

(Disclosure: I was sent an ARC of this book by the publisher to review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.)

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stranger In the Room by Amanda Kyle Williams is a gripping suspense thriller that will leave readers longing for more great works from this author. The protagonist, Keye Street, is a private investigator in Atlanta who is caught up in two investigations while her boyfriend, a lieutenant for the Atlanta PD has his own investigation. Nothing is quite as it seems as Keye comes to find eerie coincidences among the cases that she and her boyfriend are working. Filled with an array of well-developed characters, Williams gives readers a story that is best described as exhilarating as the ex-profiler Keye taps her instinctive talent for unraveling the minds of diabolical killers. This story is the second in the Keye Street series and although I have not read the first novel, I felt well at home with reading Stranger in the Room first, but I am now compelled to go back and read Williams’ debut novel where she introduces Keye Street. I strongly recommend Stranger In the Room to fans of psychological thrillers.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Stranger In the Room through the Amazon VINE Program, for review.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keye Street is a Chinese American P.I. who has a PhD and is a recovering alcoholic. Her boyfriend, Det. Aaron Rauser of the Homicide Division of the Atlanta Police Department tells her of a body they police found. It was a young boy and there had unusual liquid on the body.

In a side story, an attorney in Atlanta asks Keye and her associate, Neil, for help with a man who found the urn he thought had his mother's remains, had a different substance.

Keye and Neil arrive in a rural community that seems like a throwback to the old south. They speak to the client who tells them that he dropped the urn and knew it wasn't human ashes. He had the substance analyzed and found it was chicken feed. He wants Keye's help in learning what happened to his mother's body.

Meanwhile, Keye's cousin, Miki, has been threatened and in Atlanta another person is killed and has the same unusual liquid on his body.

The author writes with a keen wit that enhances the story. It feels as if this was a literary work of literature.

This is an excellent suspenseful novel as suspense mounts and we move toward a thrilling conclusion.

[Candice =^,,^= · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book through the author and Goodreads giveaway. This is the second book from this author featuring the Private Investigator and ex FBI agent Keye Street. I have not read the first book but reading this second book i dont feel like i needed to ,to be able to " get " this book. I am now a new fan of Amanda Kyle Williams' story telling and will be reading more by her. This book is highly entertaining. I really liked the main character's personality, meaning her warmth ,sarcasm and humor. I found myself laughing out loud a few times. I couldnt put it down until i found out who the killer was. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good suspense murder mystery.I would actually give this book 4.5 stars if I was given that option.

[Mauoijenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book by Williams in this series.
I am enjoying this series very much.
Great story building and excellent characters.

[Charlotte Guzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audio of this book.
I really enjoyed this story, the characters especially, and that it took place in Atlanta, GA where I live.
It is very southern and the narrator of the story on audio was very good and gave me an atmosphere of the story. The characters had me laughing too with all their southerness.
It did keep me guessing who done it until they tell you towards the end of the story. Then it kind of went the way you thought it would and dropped off.
It is a series so maybe that is why it was written like that towards the end to get you to read the books to follow.
I would read the next book just to see what happens with some of the characters.

[Carolyn Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book in a series about Keye Street. Keye is a private detective, former alcoholic and former FBI Behavioral Analyst. Her boyfriend is Lt. Aaron Rauser a homicide detective with Atlanta PD.

They’re working together to catch a serial killer who is threatening the citizens of Atlanta. It’s a typical murder mystery but what draws me to these books is the relationship between Keye and Aaron.

I like the characters and how the author writes. The book is interesting with several complex storylines. The sub-story here is the selling of organs from dead people with the main one being the stalking of Keye’s cousin Miki and the subsequent murders.

I would highly recommend this series.

[Blood Rose Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book in Amanda Kyle Williams' Keye Street series. I think that you could read this as a standalone novel as there is not much related back to the first book, some of the relationships that Keye has and some of the previous events are mentioned but overall they do not affect the plot. However, I really enjoyed the first book The Stranger You Seek, so you may just want to pick it up for a good read. Williams picks up a few months after The Stranger You Seek, and Keye is still trying to comprehend and deal with what has happened to her, but she has bills to pay and White Trash needs to eat so she takes on more cases than she really should.

Everyone thinks that Miki is just off her Meds again and is seeing things, hearing noises; I mean Miki is an alcoholic and a drug user so why should anyone believe what she has to say. Good think that Miki has a fairly famous cousin, well famous for many of the wrong reason and Keye Street has been taught that she cannot say no to family. Miki is convinced that she is being stalked and wants Keye to figure out who especially when she claims there was someone in her house. APD Lieutenant Aaron Rauser also needs Keye's help when a thirteen year old boy is found strangle and he needs Keye's help with the profile. However, Keye also needs to pay the bills, so she has accepted a paying job investigating the contamination of cremated ashes, even though it sounds like the missing cow from the year before, but it pays the rent. With all of this going on Keye needs to keep her focus on all the cases if she has a hope of getting everyone out alive.

It took me awhile to get into this book. I am unsure why as I enjoyed the first novel, but for some reason this book was unable to grab my attention right off. I'm not sure if it was the flow, or the book picked up a little too far after the first (I believe it is a few months later) but the first few chapters in the book were unable to really grab onto me. However, once I got past this funk in the beginning I realized once again why I enjoyed the first book, Keye Street. Keye is a great character who is strong, cynical, witty and flawed, and well very real. Her struggle with addiction, her adoption and her relationships are what draws the reader in, and then watching her work on cases, while attempting to quell her need for a drink is fantastic.

Williams knows how to write characters, there is depth in all the characters that she has created, but the main focus is on Keye. I appreciate that Williams does not let Keye forget that she was an alcoholic, there is always that need for a drink and with job that Keye does there is a need and temptation constantly. I liked that Williams took the time to show more of how Keye struggled with her relationship with her mother and south and what it was like growing up as a Chinese child in the American South (and really shows how some people minds have not changes). I felt that the reader gets to know a lot more about Keye in this novel that the first novel, especially with the introduction to Keye's cousin Miki, who is a lot like Keye, even if she does not want to think that, but Miki is also things that Keye thinks that she could never achieve.

I like that Williams has the intersection of two different lifestyles with Keye, the one where she helps Rauser out and the one where she does different types of private investigator work, in this case cement mix in urns instead of a family members ashes. Of course this is taking place in a small town and Keye in a small town you know that there are going to be some funny moments. I like that Williams uses the small town setting to add the humor and give the reader some relief from the intensity of her other cases. Some people may find the intersection of the two different cases to be a negative because it takes away for a while from the main plot, which is Miki’s stalker but what people do not realize, is that this is what most investigations are like. An officer, detective or private investigator will have multiple cases they are working on, and at times cases are put aside to work other. So yes, the main plot does take the back seat to the ashes investigation, but this just makes it more true to life. I personally liked the funeral investigation, more than the case that involved Keye's cousin Miki. I found that the funeral investigation was more interesting and involved more of Keye's detective work, than Miki's case, until later in the book. Additionally, the ashes investigation had everything that a reader is looking for, a mystery, some thrills and humor, it is just a nice change from the ordinary, and as I stated above, a nice change from the seriousness of the other cases.

Although I do not think that this book is as good as the first it is Keye as a character that will keep me coming back to Williams for more. As long as Williams keeps Keye as authentic and true to her character as possible I will always be back for more. If you are looking for a new up and coming thriller author to read, Amanda Kyle Williams is the author for you, as her books have everything you could want in a thriller read; Mystery, strong and interesting lead character and of course some thrills.

Enjoy!!!!

[Katrin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Denke nicht, dass ich den dritten Band lesen werde.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Indomitable Keye Street is Back
Atlanta private investigator, bounty hunter, and occasional police consultant Keye Street is feeling a little tense. She has been ever since she and her homicide detective boyfriend Aaron Rauser survived a couple of murder attempts last year, but the punishing southern summer heat of Atlanta in July is making it worse.

And it's times like this that Keye's demons ride her hardest.

Four years after her alcohol addiction destroyed her criminal profiling career with the FBI, the last thing recovering alcoholic Keye needs is her damaged, flawed cousin Miki calling her up and begging Keye to meet her at a nearby bar. But that's what you do for family.

Miki is freaked out. She claims that someone broke into her home, but after the police showed up and didn't find anything, they took one look at her record and blew her off. Thing is, Keye isn't sure she believes her either. She's been down this road before with her self-destructive cousin.

Then Keye finds a body in her cousin's living room, and the victim may be connected to Rauser's latest homicide case. Even as she kicks herself for not taking Miki seriously, this new development puts even more on Keye's plate. Now there's a murderous stalker on top a bail jumper with bodily fluid issues and an investigation into a crematorium that may not be keeping the home fires burning.

The heat and the fear and the exhaustion on top of all of that start to make a drink sound like just the thing Keye needs to get her through. And this time, her demons may be too strong for her to defeat.

~*~

Amanda Kyle Williams is back with another long, sultry look into the day-to-day life of the mostly functional all-purpose bastion of law and order, Keye Street.

I love Williams' style. This isn't just a suspense novel or a psychological thriller. It is peccadillo-embracing, loony-relative-having, deep-fried-donut-eating Southern fiction wrapped around more than one bizarre case of varying criminality and horror. It's the sort of fiction you don't just read, you commit to, because by the time you're done, the narrative has taken you on such a slow, sweaty, southern journey that the characters are anywhere from old friends to bitter rivals...or both.

Keye is so deliciously flawed as a character. She's got issues. Big, juicy, career-ending, daily-struggle issues. And it's not just the alcoholism, though that is a huge part. Her life is a cautionary tale and Williams pulls no punches, as if she crafts every scene to display Keye's strengths and weaknesses in as harshly bright a light as possible. I love it.

I also love the subtle touches of quirkiness and humor, mostly sarcastic, that lighten Keye's nature (and the story) when things are at their most tense or bleakest. I love Keye's intelligence and her dedication to those she considers her people, be they close friends or family. Her cousin Miki is a real piece of work, but Keye handles her. Not always with kid gloves, but then again, Miki keeps trying to goad Keye into taking a drink. Lovely woman.

Keye still feels compelled to do the right thing. Miki is family. Period. End of discussion. So southern.

Unfortunately, the verdant, rich southern style did slow the pace of the tale. The first half of the book felt a bit boggy and plodding after the pulse-pounding start. As big a fan as I am of Keye and all her quirks, there was a lot of character-driven material in the first half, and the meat of the external, plot-driven story elements didn't really gear up until about midway through.

Once they do, several significant story elements built towards a surprising and satisfying conclusion that was ripe with personal danger and future implications. It's a good plot arc, for sure, and all the plot-driven elements were wonderfully convoluted and complex.

I wish less time had been spent focusing on Keye's never-ending obsession with alcohol. It's something that bothered me in the first book, as well. Her being an alcoholic (recovering) is a defining element of her character, I know. I just get a little weary of reading about it over and over throughout the story. Especially in this book, where I felt a more subtle application could have lent more emotional impact to events during the final conflict of the book.

That said, this book has provided me another solidly entertaining read. I love Keye, and while spending time in her head can get a bit harrowing at times, I find myself rooting for her. Liking her. Wanting her to be happy with Rauser and content in her job. Sober. Even when she makes me totally mental, I want her to triumph. But maybe that's just the Southern in me. Whatever it is, I hope we see more of Keye Street soon.

Disclosure: An ARC of this book was provided to me by Bantam publisher Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.
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Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.