When I think of Bailey, I think of someone who's lippy and lucky. She's a mixed-up teenager trying to figure out where she fits in the world and whether she even wants to.
At seventeen, she's already had her share of problems: she's lost her first job and her first boyfriend. Plus she lives at home with an overbearing mother and a very annoying brother. And her dad's dead too ... but that's for another time.
Something's got to change. And fast.
And that something comes along as a series of seemingly unrelated crimes that she delights in poking her nose into.
Solving crimes and mysteries is exciting. Okay, so it might get her into trouble with the law and endanger her life from time to time, but the thrill of adventure fulfils her and she wants more.
However, when she receives some life-changing news, the stakes increase and she discovers a web of secrets and lies much closer to home. Now Bailey has to unravel the mystery of her own past, even if it means disrupting the present.
Along the way she collects new friends to help her. There's the Colonel, who knows more than he should. Christine, who might actually be a boy. And Jack, who seems far too well-mannered to be a tramp.
Led by Bailey's impulsive (often inconsiderate) forcefulness, the budding cohorts get tangled up in a web of mysteries and crimes that begin with the disappearance of local dogs, and end with something far worse.
Set in the not-so-sleepy town of Farnham, Surrey, the Bailey Jacobs series are semi-cosy mysteries peppered with fun and salted with attitude.
With Bailey in full snooping mode, is anyone going to be safe?