YOU BETRAYED ME

 4 stars out of 5

This is a book with no really likable characters, which means

two things to me: First, it's a rare opportunity to root for a bad guy (or gal), and second, I really didn't care who got bumped off.

This is the third in the author's "Cahills" series, but it's my first; that said, I never felt as if I should have known something that wasn't here, meaning it stands alone just fine as far as I'm concerned. The Cahills, for the record, are obscenely rich; most of the remaining family, whose lives are riddled with scandals of various kinds, reside in the San Francisco area. One son, James, is a relatively successful businessman in Washington state; he expects to inherit a bundle of dough at some not-too-distant point. And he is the central player in this book.

Speaking of players, James is an active participant when it comes to romance. As the book begins, he's trying to divest himself of current girlfriend Megan - sister of Rebecca, with whom he (gasp!) had a prior fling. Megan has learned that she's being cast off for Sophia, another young beauty, and she's none too happy. But suddenly, Megan goes missing - and James wakes up in the hospital with fairly serious injuries but no recollection of how he got them. Even when he gets a visit from Sophia, he doesn't remember who she is (or so he claims).

Detective Brett Rivers and his partner, Wynona Mendoza, are charged with solving the case and finding the still-missing Megan. The only sure thing at this point is that they aren't convinced that James isn't faking his memory loss. Megan's sister Rebecca breezes in from her Seattle home - Megan was on her way there when she and her car disappeared - and she's determined to find her sister with or without help from the detectives.

The chase goes on - and on - and it takes several tantalizing directions before the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, is revealed. All told, it's an action-packed adventure that kept my mind off political rhetoric for a wonderful half-dozen hours or so. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with an advance copy to read and review.

You Betrayed Me by Lisa Jackson (Kensington Books, October 2020); 470 pp.

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.

FOR WHOM THE BREAD ROLLS

4 stars out of 5


Generally speaking, I'm drawn to so-called "cozy" mysteries for one reason only: They provide refreshing respites in between the mind-bending murder mysteries and thrillers that constitute most of my reading list. So it was with this one, an advance copy I requested, and received, in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley. And like most others I've read, it's an engaging story and short enough that I finished it in one day. It is the second in the "Pancake House" series featuring shop owner Marley McKinney (the first is The Crepes of Wrath, which I have not read (a fact that had no bearing on my enjoying this one, BTW).

Marley and the other characters in this book - including her boyfriend Brett - for the most part are a likable lot, although I can't say I developed any real affinity for any of them. Marley just can't manage to keep her nose out of everyone else's business (not unlike most cozy mystery heroines, actually -- after all, without their overstepping boundaries and getting involved in situations where they're not welcome, there'd be no plot). Suffice it to say if I were one of Marley's neighbors, though, I'd be looking at moving someplace else.

Also as expected, there's murder without mayhem, love without sex, and a town in which hardly anyone drinks anything stronger than peach tea. Heck, just kissing someone you shouldn't have seems to be an unforgivable transgression in this burg. But after all, such is the stuff cozy mysteries are made of - and part of what makes them fun to read.

Marley, who used to live in Seattle, inherited the Flip Side restaurant in Wildwood Cove. Deciding to give it a go, she relocated, found a kitty companion she appropriately named Flapjack, and renewed her childhood acquaintance with Brett. But there's an older gal in town - Ida Winkler - who's causing trouble at every turn; Marley is certain the crotchety woman is behind the graffiti that's twice been painted on the shop's exterior. Shortly thereafter, Marley buys a lamp base at an antique store, but it's stolen almost from under her nose by - you guessed it - Ida.

When Marley goes to Ida's house to confront her over the theft, she finds the lamp base - along with a very dead Ida (the base, it appears, is the murder weapon). So when Marley summons the local police, she finds herself in the position of person of interest. Not good for business, Marley concludes; her shop will suffer when word gets around town that she's a suspect. So, she sets out to find the killer and establish her own innocence - even after the police and most of her friends advise her to ceast and desist.

Needless to say, those admonitions fall on deaf ears, and Marley plods ahead - turning up clues that all the professional investigators somehow miss. Predictably, her efforts land her in water hotter than she pours over the tea in her shop and put her very life in danger. Will she survive to see another pancake-flipping day? My lips are sealed (well, I'll open them in a heartbeat if she offers me one of those tempting treats from her shop, but I won't hold my breath till then). Meantime, if you want to find out, go read the book for yourself.

For Whom the Bread Rolls: A Pancake House Mystery by Sarah Fox (Random House LLC, March 2017).

IN THE CLEARING

4 stars out of 5

When I read the author's first book in the series featuring detective Tracy Crosswhite - My Sister's Grave - I absolutely loved it and vowed to read the second, Her Final Breath. Alas, that one somehow got lost in my ever-growing list of to-read books, which I'm still hoping to rectify as soon as possible; so when I was offered the opportunity to read this one, the third in the series, I jumped on it (thank you to the author and publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with a copy in exchange for a review).

Tracy, whose beloved sister was murdered when they were young, is now a detective and intent on solving cases involving other murder victims. Here, she is called in when a man, married to the daughter of a high-powered attorney, has been murdered. Apparently, he was killed by his soon-to-be-divorced wife as an act of self-defense as their son looked on. 

Concurrently, Tracy and her BF Dan attend the funeral of Buzz Almond, father of Tracy's former police academy classmate Jenny, who is now the sheriff in the rather remote Washington county where her late father once held the same position. Some 40 years ago, Buzz investigated the death of a Native American girl who, it was ruled at the time, committed suicide. Never satisfied with that ruling and believing the death to be murder, Buzz kept the file open; now, because it was so important to her late father, Jenny asks Tracy to look into it. Partly because of her friendship with Jenny and partly because of her experiences with her own sister, Tracy agrees - even though she must conduct the investigation on her own time.

It is the cold case, in fact, that consumes the lion's share of this book. Here and there, a chapter (or part of a chapter) reverts to 1976, where we learn what was really going on, but most of the story centers on Tracy's efforts to ferret out the truth. There's plenty of forensics involved - for the most part using newer technology that could never have been unearthed that long ago - that keeps things interesting and informative. Close to the end come a couple of twists in both cases that surprised me - always a hallmark of a good murder mystery.

So why 4 stars on this one instead of 5? Mostly, I think, because I'd like to have seen the domestic violence murder case fleshed out a little more - it almost seems as if that storyline was thrown in just so Tracy's police cohorts would have a chance to get their names in print. Oh, and there's one other thing I'll niggle about, although I pinky-swear it had no bearing whatsoever on my rating: The phrase "panties in a bunch" is trite but mildly amusing the first time around. But by the third time I came across it, my own had started to creep up into places they don't belong.

In the Clearing by Robert Dugoni (Thomas & Mercer, May 2016); 368 pp.

MY SISTER'S GRAVE

5 stars out of 5

Always on the lookout for a good series, I found this book on sale at Amazon and zeroed in on it. Now that I've finished it, I'm almost sorry to learn that there's only one more that's currently available (the next is Her Final Breath, which I definitely plan to read). Yes, there's also a short story (Kindle Single), but I've said on many occasions I have zero interest in those things no matter how much I love the author's work. If that practice brings in some extra bucks for the authors, so be it, but suffice it to say none of those bucks will come from me.

This one introduces Tracy Crosswhite, a Seattle homicide detective who (understandably) never got over the murder of her younger sister Sarah some 20 years earlier - her body never found. A suspect who confessed to the murder was tried and convicted and remains incarcerated, but Tracy has had doubts about his guilt and some of the evidence that was presented all those years ago. 

As she investigates another case involving the death of a young stripper, her sister's body is unearthed - literally - so she returns to her former home in the Washington State mountains. Discovery of the body brings even more into question, and with a little help from an old but rediscovered attorney friend, she focuses on getting to the truth no matter who gets hurt along the way. 

This certainly isn't the best murder mystery I've ever read - I've gone through so many that I'm not even sure what is - but it certainly held my interest throughout; I was even a bit annoyed that I was forced to put it down for two days when good friends from out of town popped in for a visit (good thing I love them dearly). But the minute they left  - well, as soon as we'd washed the wine glasses and put away the leftover pizza - the first thing I did was open up my Kindle to see how the story ended. And for the record, it got even more exciting the closer I got to the finish line.

Now I'm off to see about getting my hands on the sequel, and after that I'll just have to wait till May 2016, when the third is slated for release (In the Clearing).

My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni (Thomas & Mercer, November 2014); 418 pp.