I am always delighted when it’s Mercy Time again. I know I am in for a fantastic read, and I clear my schedule because I also know once I start reading I won’t want to put the book down until Mercy solves the current mystery and finds the clue pointing to the next one. Mean Evergreen, #12 in the Mercy Watts Mysteries, is the latest fantastic read.

It starts – how else? – with Mercy recovering from an injury, this time sustained when she was kidnapped. She knows who did it, but not why or how he was blackmailed into doing it. His sister has hired her to find out and Mercy has a hunch The Klinefeld Group had a part in it. But, hey, it’s almost Christmas and everyone wants her to take it easy and enjoy the holidays. And she almost, kind of, agrees with them. Her nursing job is in limbo right now so she’s working full-time as a P.I. for her dad, but there’s nothing pressing on the books. A little time with sweet, sexy Chuck getting ready move into their new apartment over Myrtle and Millicent’s garage could be nice.

Except. . . and with Mercy “Except” always means here we go. Her father insists she pick up someone being released from prison, and things go off the rails from there. Next he tries to trick her into working with the FBI, and going back to the prison to meet with a very, very unsavory, creepy guy who is obsessed with Mercy. Tommy Watts isn’t an easy guy to like, at least in his role as Mercy’s father. He always puts the business first and thinks nothing of asking her to do difficult, dangerous – you might say harrowing – things if they serve his purpose. He’s kind of cut from the same cloth as his father, Ace Watts. Whose wife, Grandma J, might just have had enough.

Mercy has certainly had enough. She decides if part of relaxing and enjoying Christmas includes visiting psychopaths in prison, she’ll just sneak off to Germany to investigate her kidnapping and how it relates to the family mystery she’s been trying to solve. She almost makes it, except what would a Mercy story be without her cast of crazy sidekicks: Aaron, always with the fabulous food and in the right place at the right time to look after her and now unbelievably a social media food star, Grandma J, who has definitely had enough and is ready to take that European vacation Ace could never quite find time for; and Moe Licata, who will protect Mercy while his niece Fats, Mercy’s usual bodyguard, gets ready to have her baby. Moe looks old and out of shape, but he’s wily and scarily efficient, and sweet in a weird way. And speaking of sweet, he seems to be sweet on Grandma J. Mix that all together with the mystery, the danger, the history and you’ll see why author A. W. Hartoin’s books are must-reads.

There’s a lot going on in the story. It’s intricate, complicated, full of references to other family members and other events, but it’s so well-written, well-developed, well-plotted, well, just well done, that rather than being confusing it’s challenging, exciting and rewarding when you have that “Aha!” moment and realize this connects to that and this person was related to that one, and on and on. As you unravel the links and clues you learn more and more, but really just enough to make you realize how expertly woven together and Intricately blended is the Bled family history with Mercy’s present, and how the danger comes from both sides, old and new. And you also realize you have become fully immersed in the story and totally hooked.

Mean Evergreen is such an enjoyable read. The story flows smoothly and just when the danger gets to be almost too much you remember this is Mercy – Marilyn Monroe look-alike Mercy, probably with a cast or crutches or some other impediment and with Aaron trailing along – and you laugh out loud. The serious words are perfect, and so are the funny ones: “His short-cropped hair was sort of brindle patterned like a dog, his eyes were moist and bulging, he had two hairy warts on the side of his nose, and a slightly humped back.” Hello, Moe.

I received an advance copy of Green Evergreen in exchange for an honest review and I will purchase a copy as well. I can’t recommend it enough. I’m betting once you finish this book you’ll be so intrigued with the characters and the effect of past events on the present that you’ll want to start this (and Stella’s stories) from the start. You won’t be sorry. Each story is perfect as a standalone but taken together they are a mountain of reading pleasure that just keeps growing. All opinions are my own. ( )