Book ~ "Cut You Down" (2018) Sam Wiebe

From Goodreads ~ Tabitha Sorenson is missing. The bright but unstable student disappeared in the aftermath of a scandal involving millions of dollars in college funds. Professor Dana Essex doesn't think the missing money and the missing student are connected but she hires Vancouver PI David Wakeland to find Tabitha, with whom she is in obsessed.

When Wakeland discovers Tabitha has, in fact, stolen the money and is hiding out with her lover and reports back to his client, Essex is crushed to learn that Tabitha is in love with someone else. The next morning, Tabitha has been murdered and Essex has disappeared.

Meanwhile, Wakeland has his own problems. His former girlfriend, police officer Sonia Drego, believes her partner is corrupt. With her job - and possibly her life - on the line, Wakeland may be her best hope of uncovering the conspiracy in the department before it brings her down.

Hounded by Tabitha's friends, the police, the press and his own troubled conscience, Wakeland tries desperately to find Essex and make sense of what happened. Could it all have been a ruse from the start and is Wakeland just another in a long line of suckers?

While searching for Essex and investigating Sonia's partner, Wakeland encounters criminals, anarchist, and crooked authority figures - all of them desperate people who will stop at nothing to guard their secrets. 

Dave Wakeland is a former cop and now a private detective in Vancouver, BC.  He is in partnership with Jeff Chen, who is totally the opposite of him.  They are based in Jeff's more professional space but Dave hasn't let go of his rundown office space in a building that is going to be demolished for condos soon.  Dave isn't afraid to use violence to get the answers he needs, which isn't Jeff's style.

Dave has been hired by a meek professor named Dana to find a student named Tabitha.  Though not implicated, Tabitha was part of a scandal involving college funds and hasn't been seen since.  Tabitha has awaken feelings in Dana and she wants to know if Tabitha feels the same.  When Dave locates Tabitha, Dana is heartbroken to learn that Tabitha is happy in a relationship.  Then Tabitha is found murdered and Dana disappears.

In the meantime, Dave is asked by his ex-girlfriend, a police officer named Sonia, to follow her partner, Chris, but she doesn't tell him why.  Though they haven't spoken in a long time, he doesn't hesitate to help her out.  As he does, Dave discovers Chris is involved with a Chinese mobster who he has a history with.

This is the third book I've read by this author and I liked it.  It's the second in the Wakeland series (I read the first one too) ... you don't need to have read the first one as it works okay as a stand alone.  I liked the writing style ... it was humorous at times (Dave can be sarcastic).  It is written in first person perspective from Dave's point of view.  As a head's up, there is swearing, violence and adult activity.

I think the story lines were interesting but found there was a lot going on.  I think both stories could have been made into separate books as each was compelling enough on its own.