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!!
Tropical Delusions...... 