5 stars out of 5
By golly, this is a good book! In fact, it's an excellent series; I admit I skipped the first one ("Cold Comfort"), but I thoroughly enjoyed the second ("Cold Trail") and this, the third featuring Hartbourne Metro Detective Bridgette Cash, is better still.
As this one begins, Bridgette is back at work after events of the previous book brought trauma - including the loss of her partner. She's escorted to an underwater cave, where a diver found two dead bodies: one many years old and the other relatively fresh. Both, it's determined, died as a result of gunshots to the head. Other than that, clues as to their identity remain submerged, but Bridgette begins an investigation that hopefully will land results.
Her beloved supervisor, Felix Delray. has her back; but he's at the mercy of a commissioner who, let's just say, isn't Bridgette's biggest fan (nor she his). In part because Bridgette may be in danger as a result of her continued attempts to find the person who murdered her mother a couple of decades ago, the commissioner orders up a new partner named Aaron Sterling. He's obnoxious, arrogant and disdainful of women (Bridgette in particular), but she's determined to make the best of the situation.
Initially focusing on the more recent victim, Bridgette finally narrows the list to a missing person at a local horse breeder's operation. Her boss claims to know nothing about the place (why the police wouldn't be fully aware of it since it sponsors an annual race that brings in an attendance of 70,000 is a puzzlement to me, but hey). At any rate, he gives Bridgette the go-ahead to visit, checking out the stable that belonged to the man who suddenly disappeared and learning that he isn't the first.
That discovery leads to other links in the investigative chain, a bang-up ending and, of course, fodder for another book. For those who enjoy police procedurals with interesting characters and plenty of action, I recommend that you give this series a try. Meantime, I thank the author for offering me a copy to read and review. Well done!
Cold Hard Cash by Trevor Douglas (Amazon Digital Services LLC, March 2019); 325 pp.
4 stars out of 5
Despite having a backlog of books to read and review, I accepted the author's offer to tackle this book - mostly because a) it sounded interesting and b) I'm always on the lookout for a new series to follow. This one is the second in the series - the first is Cold Comfort, released last year. I didn't read that one, and while I always recommend starting any series at the beginning, I didn't feel at a disadvantage here.
Hartbourne Metro Police rookie detective Bridgette Cash has been given an assignment to investigate the disappearance of fellow police officer John Tyson, last seen working for the police in Sanbury, a couple of hours away. The job is considered a bit of a respite for Bridgette, who apparently narrowly missed being killed off in the first book. But early on, she runs afoul of the Sanbury police when she tries to defend (and befriend) Hughie, a mentally challenged man, when officers use excessive force to get him to the police station. The police chief further resents Bridgette's intrusion on the gone-missing Hartbourne officer (that's putting it mildly; he sticks his foot in her way - and often in his own mouth - every time they meet and is a totally unlikable person. For the record, just about every person she meets in this town seems to be a jerk, a lecher, or worse).
Meanwhile, the town itself is in the midst of building a high-stakes ski resort that's expected to be a big boost to the economy. As she begins her investigation (trying to work around the local police), Bridgette manages to get on the bad side of one of the project's big investors, making her stay - and progress toward finding the missing officer - even more difficult. Complicating things still more is the threat of a huge snowstorm that could bring everything, most notably Bridgette's investigation, to a halt for several days.
It doesn't take long, though, for her to conclude that officer Tyson was murdered. But just like the woman Hughie is accused of murdering years ago, there's no body to be found. Bridgette finds who she hopes is a friend in a local man who was close to Tyson, and together with him and Hughie, she tries to get to the bottom of things without landing in jail or the hospital. And as she discusses progress with her chief back in Hartbourne, she gets even more distressing news: It's likely that one of her co-workers had a hand in her near-murder. But who?
As is typical in books like this, the heroine - Bridgette - comes off as super-human at times (reminding me a bit of Nora Roberts' Lt. Eve Dallas, who somehow survives injuries that would put any other woman down for the count). And I must point out that the characters here use each other's names in their conversations way, way more than "normal" people do, nearly driving me buggy at times. Still, it's a solid plot, and while the ending isn't a cliffhanger, it does leave open the door for the next installment (reportedly Cold Hard Cash).
I'll be waiting!
Cold Trail by Trevor Douglas (independently published, January 2018); 323 pp.
