4th of July by James Patterson

I had a couple of issues with 4th of July by James Patterson.  It's the fourth book in his Women's Murder Club series.  Like pretty much every book I've read of his, it's well written.  However, with this being the 4th book, I expected that I knew the main character, Lindsay Boxer by now.  Nope.  Apparently, she not only plays guitar, she also is into cars and can work on them herself.  It just didn't fit for me.  It felt weird for her to have those characteristics.  Then, he throws in the fact that her father abused her as a fleeting thought.  It was there for just a second and then gone.  That's not a piece a person that is small.  That sort of thing makes a person who they are.  So, why didn't we know about that before?  I say again, it felt weird to not know that about her.  Was I surprised about the dad part?  No.  The cars and guitar, yes.  Then, there is that fact that this so-called women's murder club is missing a member after the death of Lindsay's lawyer friend in the last book.  It just felt cliche that the new member introduced in this book is a lawyer as well.  Why get rid of one just to replace her with another?  It felt as if it were a little bit of a sacrilege, as if Jill had not really mattered in the first place.  I get that you might not feel as though you have much to pull from as far as members of a murder club go.  However, why not add a stay-at-home mom who watches too much CSI?  That could even add a bit of a comedic spin to the books.  Despite these annoyances, I still enjoyed the plot.  It won't deter me from reading the next one.