Project Onion

"A crime mystery taking place over just a few days, Stensgaard's first book in the Melville Consulting Series starts with a punch. Fans of crime and mystery novels will relish in the Melville Consulting team and will enjoy watching Kat learn the ropes. Told from the perspective of the protagonist, Kat, a mystery unfolds at a quick pace. Readers familiar with mystery novels will find this story familiar and quite fun. Following the typical format of crime fiction, Stensgaard delivers an entertaining set-up to her series. Kat's motivations for joining the Melville Consulting team are clear and her emotions are apparent and relatable. She has a lot of space for growth in sequential stories in the series." - The BookLife Prize, part of Publishers Weekly

"Project Onion by Karen Stensgaard is an engrossing read, packed with suspense, a little romance, and even some time travel for good measure. It has a very strong female lead, plenty of action, and no small amount of stunning twists and turns that will leave you dizzy. The characters are real people, entirely believable and relatable, and that includes the antagonists. The dialogue is snappy and descriptive, drawing you in from the start, and the pacing is just right - not so slow that you lose interest and not so fast that you can't keep up. The main character is the kind of woman that others might dream of being - a sophisticated, smart decision-maker who isn't afraid to stare danger in the face and the thrilling plot marks the start of what looks to be a great new series. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and am looking forward to more of Kat Jenson's adventures." - 5 Star Review by Anne-Marie Reynolds for Readers' Favorite

"A riveting, impossible-to-put-down novel... Stensgaard kicks start her The Melville Consulting Series with this very clever, unpredictable genre mash-up tale. When Kat Jensen, an out-of-work internal auditor in New York City, joined her old friend's secretive investigative firm, Melville Consulting, she had no idea she was signing for an extremely dangerous assignment: while investigating an elaborate money-laundering scheme, Kat finds her face to face to with El Rey, a notorious drug lord. Kat must prepare herself to fight back if she wants to stay alive. The novel has both thrills and chills of a fast-paced suspense and interpersonal tension of a substantial mystery. Kat's travels to the past drive the plot, but it's the intricacy in her present that makes this book worth spending time with: Stensgaard's shrewd observations about a woman struggling to gather her courage in the face of unexpectedly trying circumstances register beautifully. The pacing is fast and tension stays high with relentless suspense in the back. This action-packed time-travel thriller delivers on its promising concept." - The Prairies Book Review