Day: April 20, 2021

Another great new series discovery for me, thanks to Netgalley & Bookouture.

Kimberley King is a former NYPD Homicide Detective, who’d had enough of seeing women killed, and has taken a job in small town Dead Woman Crossing, OK, where she has been working as Chief Deputy for the last year. She arrives to work to find a surprise gathering waiting to celebrate her birthday. As she and her colleagues enjoy cake and coffee, a phone call comes in about a missing child. 

Joviality quickly cast aside, Kimberley & Sheriff Sam Walker immediately head to the home of the missing child, a 10-year-old girl named Piper, where they learn that Piper has been missing for over 12 hours now.  Reportedly heading to her friend Miley’s house to spend the night, her grandparents had no clue that anything was amiss until Miley called looking for her this morning. Despite an immediate Amber Alert, and rapid mobilization of search parties, Piper is found dead the next evening. 

A heartbroken Kimberley and her team are determined to find the killer and leave no stone unturned in their search, digging up family drama and absent parents, but everyone has a verifiable alibi. Then, another call comes into the station – this time Miley is missing…

As the team re-doubles their efforts to find this child alive, Kimberley deals with some friction in her personal life, and also runs into (quite literally) a single father, with a toddler in tow. Intrigued by Caleb and his son Flynn, Kimberley accepts her first date since moving to Dead Woman Crossing, a date that has to wait until this investigation is over. But Kimberley is also conflicted about her feelings for Sam, which she’s barely begun to acknowledge. 

As Kimberley re-visits the search areas in hopes of finding something to lead their team to Miley, she stumbles across Piper’s missing bike, and promptly finds herself trapped at the mercy of a deranged killer. Can her team get to her in time? And will they find Miley?? 

I’m a first-time reader of J.R. Adler, and I am hooked! I am anxious to go back and read the first of this series to learn more about these characters. Some subtle background information provided in bits throughout the book make me think that the next book in the series is going to be every bit as good as this one, and that old ghosts may not be very far away. A great read!! 

If you are a fan of mysteries & thrillers and prefer recurring characters, you’ll definitely want to give Webb’s Falco & Devlin team a try. 

Fresh off their first novel (which I have not yet read, but I certainly plan to), Birmingham Detectives Luke Falco & Kerri Devlin are called to the scene of a murder.  Two bodies, seated in chairs, hands bound behind them, and shot execution style. One of them is a bar owner, but the other is none other than Birmingham’s Deputy District Attorney Asher Walsh.  As they begin to assess the scene, Kerri gets a phone call from her daughter Tori’s school, asking to see her immediately. 

Leaving Falco to continue the murder investigation, Kerri goes to her daughter, only to find her being interrogated by colleagues, and learns that Tori was one of four young women standing on a staircase landing, when a classmate Brendal, either fell or was pushed, resulting in critical injury. None of the teens are able to state what happened, with Tori telling her mother that she doesn’t remember. 

Meanwhile, Sadie Cross, former BPD Detective turned private investigator, is slowly trying to put her life back together.  Sadie had been presumed lost on a deep undercover operation, only to re-appear a year later, with only scattered bits and pieces of memories of the events that lead to her disappearance, along with the haunting memory of a child lost. 

As the investigation commences, it quickly becomes apparent that DDA Walsh was looking into the Osorio drug cartel, the same cartel that Sadie had infiltrated on her undercover op, but what was his connection?  Falco, Devlin & Sadie become unlikely partners as they dig deep into the investigation, while Kerri also desperately tries to protect her daughter from an increasingly hostile situation…

Another great find, thanks to Thomas & Mercer Publishers & Netgalley.com.  I have always enjoyed mystery/suspense series with recurring characters and this duo does not disappoint! This is the second in a (so far) two book series, and alludes to events in the first book, so I’m off to find that for my next read – so, suggesting that they be read in order! The characters are very likeable, and there appears to be a deepening connection between Kerri & Luke that begs to be explored in future stories. Sadie is also a fascinating persona, with a brash, irascible, devil-may-care personality, which I suspect will also under-go great change in the next in the series. Honestly, I cannt wait to get me hands on it. There’s nothing better than a series, that has you desperate to get your hands on the next edition! Great read, great characters, great plot, great series!! Need I say more?? 

I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an objective review.  Do you love to read?? Visit netgalley.com and start reviewing books today!!