A COLD TRAIL

4 stars out of 5

It's always a treat to dive into a new book in a favorite series, and it's even sweeter when it's another good one. Such is the case here (I even stayed up half an hour past my bedtime to finish it). This is the seventh appearance of Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite, but I warn other readers that near the end of the book, it was touch and go as to whether it would be her last.

Of course, no reader is likely to think she won't survive - this series is far too popular to knock off the lead character, for goodness sake; so the devil here is in the details. Tracy and her lawyer husband Dan have moved back to their home town of Cedar Grove, Washington, while their home in a Seattle suburb is being remodeled. They bring with them their two-month-old daughter Daniella and Irish nanny Therese (a likable character in her own right, a bit reminiscent of Mary Catherine, the very Irish nanny and housekeeper for James Patterson series character Michael Bennett). 

Tracy and Dan are living in Dan's parents' old house, but it is the small town itself that brings back the most memories - and not pleasant ones. This is the place where Tracy's younger sister, Sarah, went missing while she was in high school; years later, her body was found and the killer identified. Now, Dan has taken on the defense of a local man who's fighting the sale of his long-time family store to the city, which is buying up other small businesses and reselling them to buyers who pledge to remodel and reopen. Tracy is for the most part happy to be with her new daughter, but she also misses the fulfillment of her job (from which she's still on maternity leave). So when the local acting police chief makes her an offer she can't refuse, she doesn't - agreeing to help solve the murder of the current chief's wife, a reporter who was working on a story that someone doesn't want told.

As most readers will suspect, it's not long before parallels show up between Tracy's investigation and Dan's client's case; but the nearly impossible part is finding real evidence. A lot has happened in Cedar Grove over the years, much of which the locals don't want to revisit even if it means catching a murderer.

The action here is pretty much nonstop, although a few too many, and too lengthy, speculative discussions among the players about who may have done what to whom slowed the pace here and there. That aside, it was an interesting plot with plenty of twists and a satisfying conclusion, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-publication copy. Now all I can do is sit back and wait till the next one!

A Cold Trail by Robert Dugoni (Thomas & Mercer, February 2020); 355 pp.