DEAD WOMAN CROSSING

4 stars out of 5

If the first entry is an example, the Detective Kimberley

King series should have a long run. For sure, I'll be waiting to get my hands on the next one.

Detective Kimberley King and her young daughter, Jessica, have relocated to Dead Woman Crossing in Custer County, Oklahoma. It's far a more remote, and presumably laid back, place compared to the NYPD she left behind (along with some not-so-good experiences). For a while, she'll be living with her mother and stepfather in what turns out to be a small cottage on the farm that her stepbrother and his wife operate.

The town got its name after an unsolved crime from 1905, when a young woman was murdered on the banks of a creek. Just as she's getting to know her way around - and to know the ways of Sheriff Sam Walker, her boss - another young woman is found murdered at the same place and in the same manner. Whoever killed the girl back then can't still be alive, so is someone trying to copy what happened back then?

Meantime, Kimberley works to find the murderer, but her family isn't as supportive as she'd like - especially when clues lead to the possibility that the killer is someone they all know. The outcome of that could lead to more than ruffled family feathers as Kimberley learns she and her daughter could be in the crosshairs of a very dangerous person.

All told, it's a solid start to a promising series. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review it.

Dead Woman Crossing by J.R. Adler (Bookouture, September 2020); 347 pp.