Two days before Christmas, Jonathan Gray, M. D., Chief Deputy Coroner for Orleans Parish, receives shocking news. Robby O’Malley—Jonathan’s mentor for nearly forty years—has died under mysterious circumstances. Within hours after Robby’s death, Gray takes the oath of office as Coroner and participates in autopsies of an elderly couple murdered in their Garden District home. After mass on Christmas morning, Archbishop Phillip Fontenot asks Gray to investigate the sexual assault of one of his parishioners, as well as the disappearance of her sister—without involving the police. As Jonathan winds his way through what appear to be separate incidents, he uncovers connections and secrets that members of the city’s power elite would just as soon remain hidden.
VOICES OF THE ELYSIAN FIELDS (A Jonathan Grey, M.D. Mystery) by Michael Rigg is an exciting, fast paced start to a new mystery/crime thriller series featuring the Chief Coroner of New Orleans. This book pulls you in from the first chapter with realistic characters and a total immersion into life in New Orleans.
Just two days before Christmas, Chief Deputy Coroner Dr. Jonathan Grey finds himself at the death scene of the Chief Coroner of New Orleans, his long-term mentor and friend. Just hours later after taking the oath of office to Chief Coroner, he receives a high-profile elderly couple from the Garden District in what appears to be a murder-suicide. As the detectives investigate, the autopsy results call the original assumption into question.
Not only does he have a wealthy, prominent New Orleans family to deal with, but the Archbishop of New Orleans asks for Jonathan’s discrete help after Christmas day mass in the sexual assault of a couple that has asked the church for sanctuary.
With pressure coming from all sides, Jonathan and his friends on the New Orleans detective squad must untangle a web of deceit that brings together the political elite, the rich and powerful, and a multi-country sex trafficking ring. Are all these holiday death cases related or not and can he keep his friends and loved ones safe?
This is a wonderful start to a new series that kept me reading well into the night. The characters are fully developed and realistic even with this being the first book in this series. Jonathan and his wife are a tight couple even with the tragedy in their past and I love that they are well suited to each other, but also singularly strong characters. Jonathan and the detectives followed an intricately plotted investigation with red herrings and twists that continually had me reevaluating who I believed was guilty and whether the two major cases were related or not. The city of New Orleans’ history, geography, and people are woven throughout the story and made me feel like I was right there on the streets with the characters. I am looking forward to reading many more books with these characters in the future.
I highly recommend this amazing first book in the Jonathan Grey, M.D. Mystery series!
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About the Author
Agatha and Anthony-nominated author Michael Rigg, an attorney for more than four decades, writes mysteries and thrillers set in two very different locations: Virginia Beach (where he lives) and New Orleans (which he visits as often as possible “for research,” including participation in three Mardi Gras Krewes). He is a retired Navy Judge Advocate and a retired civilian government attorney, formerly working for the Department of the Navy. He is a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and both the Sisters in Crime national organization and its Southeastern Virginia Chapter—Mystery by the Sea.
My husband is everything I ever dreamed of. A handsome, successful doctor who swept me off my feet.
Our new life together is perfect.
He’s perfect.
But am I good enough for him? I never seem to get anything right. And I’m starting to feel a little afraid of the man I married.
He’s taken away my bank card and my phone. I don’t know what to think or what to do. I gave up everything for him and now I’m trapped.
Then a stranger comes to our door. She tells me that I can’t trust my husband.
That I should ask him what happened to his first wife.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Next Wife by Liz Lawler explores domestic violence, that includes physical, sexual, mental, and emotional.
The plot explains that Tess Myers met her husband, Daniel, while they worked together in an English hospital. He is a doctor, she a nurse. They got married quickly and then moved to Bath England. After they moved into the house, Tess notices the change in Daniel as he becomes increasingly controlling. As he escalates his abuse Tess knows she must leave him. This is confirmed when a woman in her 80s, Martha King, comes to her doorstep and warns Tess about Daniel’s first wife.
Daniel is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He is a psychopath, cruel, nasty, evil and makes Tess’s life unbearable. Yet, outsiders see him as a great surgeon, charismatic, caring, and nice. Daniel is a monster to her and the abuse he inflicted is appalling.
Tess is not the same person she was before she married Daniel. She has become timid, scared, and fearful for her life, being reduced to a shell of her former self.
The relationship between them shows how Daniel uses his power over her, whether at their work or in their home. As Tess’s abuse, sexual, physical and mental, gets worse she feels increasingly alone. Readers wonder if Tess will be able to survive and how she will be able to leave Daniel.
People will be captivated by this story and riveted to their seats as they turn the page. This book begins with a bang of a mysterious murder and ends with a bang of a twist that many will not see coming.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?
Liz Lawler: Well, the germ of the idea came to me from one of my previous jobs of working at a railway station as a customer ambassador for Great Western Railway, which is one of the main network railways in England. Part of my job was dealing with distressed customers and being mindful of passengers on the platform. Over the time I was there, I did come across a few attempted suicides. I remember this one lady, a businesswoman, beautifully dressed, and I got a feeling about her. Unfortunately, my gut was right, and it was telling me that she was far too close to the yellow line. Basically, what I wanted to do with The Next Wife was really, explore coercive control, the kind of abuse that often starts so subtly.
EC: Was this woman the inspiration for the main female lead, the wife Tess?
LL: She was, although not her character, but the situation. Her character was completely different to Tess’s. It was sad. She was a woman probably in her early, early 40s, maybe late 30s.
EC: Did your nursing career help you to write this story?
LL: Very much so because I was able to pull on all the experiences as a nurse. and almost walk Tess’s line, you know, every part of Tess’s journey in the hospital setting. My nursing background is my solid career background, and that influenced me greatly in everything that I liked because of all the experiences of dealing with people. I predominantly worked in the emergency department. The scene in the surgery, with Tess and Daniel, that’s very realistic. What happened to Tess could possibly have happened. I’m very fortunate to have people that I’ve been in contact, and one of the people that I contacted to make sure I got everything correct, is a vascular surgeon. I got him to read the passages that I wanted him to check and he said, he felt he was there. What happened won’t happen to many people, thank goodness. But yes, situations like that can happen.
EC: How would you describe Tess?
LL: Tess is sensitive, wants to belong. She’s a loner and anxious. Before Daniel, her abusive husband, she was chatty and confident, and somewhat bossy. Now she’s guarded, and feels that she’s in a world of darkness and secrets.
EC: What about the husband, Daniel?
LL: He’s a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. To Tess, he’s a Dr. Jekyll and to everyone else a Mr. Hyde. He has a facade of an attentive husband, that he’s kind and considerate to her. He is charismatic. To her, he’s power hungry. Tess doesn’t know anything about him. She doesn’t know anything about his past, about his childhood, all the things that make Daniel’s character what it is. She hasn’t got a clue.
EC: What about the setting of Bath London?
LL: She’s in a new place where she should feel safe. Bath city is considered probably one of the safest cities, not only in the UK, but possibly in the world. It’s a beautiful, calm place, and this is one place where Tess should have felt safe. And it doesn’t pan out like that at all.
EC: What about the relationship between Tess and Daniel?
LL: His behavior escalates little by little. Daniel makes her feel off kilter. He is such a betrayal from someone she loves. To her, he’s critical. He humiliates her. He’s abusive, controlling, cold, cruel, brutal, with no compassion. She feels powerless, really, without answers, without anybody telling her anything.
EC: What was the role of Martha in the story?
LL: She has a real life happening within our own head. But it’s in a different time zone. So, everything she things she is experiencing in the now is something that she’s experienced in the past. What she’s seen, she thinks this is the present, what she’s witnessing. She can’t grasp why Daniel has moved back into this house. Now he’s there, and the only thing that he’s changed is his name. He’s hiding in plain sight with this new wife. Martha is convinced that she knows his first wife. And then she’s convinced that this new wife must be warned. Because unless she warns her, this young new bride is in danger. Martha’s, my favorite character who I fell in love with. When I was writing Martha, my mum was always in my head. My mum would have been out there, rain, snow, trying to warn this new young wife of Daniel’s, that she was in a dangerous situation, because she knew everything that had happened. in the past.
EC: Next book?
LL: The story is set in London. The main character is a nurse that works on the surgical ward. A patient is brought in and he’s a prisoner that has a spinal injury. He tells her that he’s not guilty of the crime sent to prison for and who is the real criminal. She is shocked she knows them. The working title is The Hospital Prisoner and it is due to be published on January 27th.
THANK YOU!!
***
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for KILL TO KEEP (Sheriff Bet Rivers Book #3) by Elena Taylor on this Partner’s In Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a PICT giveaway. Enjoy and good luck!
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My Book Description
Sheriff Bet Rivers’ inspection of the carnival grounds should have been routine. Murder is certainly the last thing on anyone’s mind. Then comes the sound of a gunshot. And a dead body with no signs of trauma, no witnesses and no obvious motive for the killing.
But solving the unexplained death is only part of the challenge. Bet is still grappling with her on-off relationship with town owner Rob Collier, while dealing with her feelings about her late father, the beloved town sheriff she had to replace.
As Bet launches her homicide investigation, she soon discovers the carnival is a place of whispers, rumours, resentments and lie after lie. And as the stakes build, it quickly becomes clear that protecting a deadly secret is something that someone is willing to kill to keep.
Genre: Police Procedural, Rural Crime Fiction Published by: Severn House Publication Date: July 7, 2026 Number of Pages: 279 ISBN: 9781448317400 (ISBN10: 1448317401) Series: Sheriff Bet Rivers Mystery Series
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
KILL TO KEEP (Sheriff Bet Rivers Book #3) by Elena Taylor is an action filled smalltown crime thriller/police procedural in the Sheriff Bet Rivers series. I enjoyed the characters and investigations in the previous books and looked forward to reading this new one. Like most books in this genre, as the series continues the lives of the main characters also develop, but the criminal investigation plots are always concluded in each book.
Sheriff Elizabeth “Bet” Rivers has settled into her role as the sheriff of her smalltown in Collier, Washington. Former FBI agent Rob Collier and longtime friend invites Bet to do a walk-through of the carnival that has come to town and is leasing part of his property. A gunshot rings out and when they investigate, they discover a dead body, but it has no gunshot wound.
Bet and her team, along with the help of Rob, find silence and deception from many of the carnies. It will take all their skills to discover the identity of the body and the killer.
I found this addition to the series to be another well plotted crime thriller with plenty of suspects and twists. Bet is once again a smart and resourceful smalltown sheriff who makes do with what she has and the excellent help of her deputies, Clay and Nate, Rob, and Alma, her senior office manager/computer tech extraordinaire. And you cannot forget Schweitzer, her Anatolian Shepard. My small criticism of this book, which made it not as enjoyable as the previous two was Bet’s continual internal dialogue about her and Rob’s relationship. It felt overdone and not what I would expect from Bet. Even though I was not really interested in the carnival plot to start, it did pull me in the further I progressed in the story, and I realized I had some of the same prejudices of carnies as Bet. The revisiting of the town and characters along with an intricate crime plot made this another solid addition to the series and I hope to read many more in the series.
I recommend this smalltown crime thriller and the entire Bet Rivers series.
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Excerpt
ONE
The air above the blacktop rippled as Sheriff Elizabeth “Bet” Rivers drove west. The tiny town of Collier struggled under a heatwave that had swept through Washington State and turned the last week of June unexpectedly brutal. The sun, barely over the tops of the mountains surrounding the community, already beat down hard. By midday, it would be merciless on the traveling Carnival Roma where they’d set up on the hardpacked dirt at the far end of the valley.
Bet parked the SUV in the makeshift visitor lot and eyed the temporary fencing around the fairgrounds. It didn’t encircle the entire footprint, tempting reckless souls to take a shot at getting in through the back for free.
She sauntered up to the empty ticket booth where Robert Collier Junior stood with an unreadable expression on his face. He cocked an eyebrow. “Mornin’, Sheriff.” His voice was warm and low, teasing her with his formality.
Pretending deference, she tipped the brown campaign hat that covered her auburn curls. “Mr. Collier.”
At thirty-seven, Rob had more than a few care lines etched into his tanned face, and the dark, neatly trimmed beard had begun to show hints of gray. He held out his arm. “Shall we?”
“We shall.” Bet wrapped her fingers around the crook of his elbow, enjoying the tingle that always arrived when she touched him. They had stopped and restarted seeing each other so many times since they’d met last September that her head spun, but the physical attraction was always there—at least for her. Rob played his feelings close to the vest. Recently, there had been phone calls and texts that he ignored in her presence, or left the room to answer, giving Bet the impression she wasn’t the only woman in his life. She worried that they had missed their chance at something wonderful and would fall into the awkward role of “friends.”
It surprised her how much that hurt.
Following Rob through the turnstile, she kept her fingers tucked against his arm. “I feel special getting in before opening day.”
“It’s my role as the person renting the land to do a walkthrough, and as the head of local law enforcement, you should confirm that everything meets your approval.”
“And as a bonus, you get to show off your newfound status as feudal lord of the manor.” She meant it as a joke about his recently expanded fortune but caught Rob’s grimace from the
corner of her eye. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“It’s OK.” He stopped and pulled her around to face him. “It’s not your fault that I’m uncomfortable owning an entire town.”
Not to mention international corporations and properties across the US. His sudden riches had regularly taken him away from their remote high elevation valley, interrupting their progress as a couple and turning him into someone else. Toe-to-toe, she got a better look at the dark circles under his eyes. There was a toll to all the travel his new position forced on him. Rob had left the Collier family responsibilities behind years before to pursue a career with the FBI, but his
father’s death had sucked him back in. As the sole heir, he felt obligated to the people his father’s businesses employed and responsible to various organizations.
He tugged her closer, and she closed her eyes, the heat of his body seeping through their clothing in direct competition with the weather. Standing together, the world felt right, even with a heat dome hovering over their heads.
All too soon, Rob stepped back with a glint of amusement in his eyes. “I wanted to join the circus once.” The brim of his hat cast a shadow across his face and for the briefest of moments, he looked like a stranger.
Bet wasn’t sure if he was joking. “Because you wanted to run away?”
“Because I wanted to be Buffalo Bill.”
“And star in a Wild West show.” Bet could picture him on his big Morgan horse, shooting targets at a full gallop.
“Something like that.” The two continued their walk, and with no one around to see them, Bet kept her grip on his elbow, touching the soft blue denim of his shirt. It made them feel like a real couple. She’d never wanted that until now, when it wasn’t clear if they would ever be committed.
The midway split the meadow in half. Food stalls filled one side while games of skill and chance filled the other, with rides scattered in between. The big blue and white striped tent at the far end promised trick horses and acrobats, shimmering in the heat like a mirage. Carnival Roma combined the food, rides, and fun of a carnival with the live performances of a circus, guaranteeing tourist dollars for her often-overlooked town and spectacle under the big top.
As they made their way along the empty “street,” Bet imagined Rob in a fringed coat, performing with the big horse he’d brought with him to Collier almost a year ago. “You still got to carry a gun to work for the FBI. That’s almost like Buffalo Bill.”
“Does that make you Annie Oakley?”
They reached the first of the games—multi-colored balloons to pop with darts, metal targets to hit with little peashooters, heavy white milk cans stacked into pyramids waiting to be knocked into the dirt by an oversized softball. Memories of the past filled her, the view of those games from a child’s eye level. Her father always waving off trying his hand at hitting the targets. A crack shot, he didn’t believe guns should be used as toys.
The stalls were unattended, but a tall, gangly man stood not far away watching them—his blue polo shirt had GUS stitched in gold letters on the left side and a patch with the carnival’s logo on the right.
Rob gestured toward the shooting gallery like a game show host pointing out the grand prize. “Care to prove your gunslinger skills, Sheriff?”
“Only if Gus’ll let us use the dart game.” Bet didn’t hold the same belief as her father, toy guns didn’t bother her, but she refused to fail at hitting the targets with the carnival rifles because the sights were bad.
Gus started his singsong patter as he climbed over the knee wall in front of the games. “Hit a balloon and win a prize.”
Hefting a dart, Bet readied her shot. The pink balloon popped as the point found its target, but before they could finish the high five she aimed Rob’s way, a sharp crack rebounded down the valley. “That was—”
She caught Rob’s startled expression, and they finished with eyes locked together, “—a gunshot.”
Bet’s hand went instinctively for the gun in her holster. But before she drew, she reached down to her backup weapon and held the Smith & Wesson Shield Plus out to him. Planning a fun morning off, his weapons were all back home in his gun safe. Rob gave her a nod, the micro-compact looking tiny but lethal in his hand. They started toward the far end of the carnival grounds, their steps in sync.
Carnival workers streamed toward them, away from the blast at the north end of the midway. With the carnival opening in two days, performers and other staff had likely been at their various tasks and rehearsals. Now they formed a mob, racing toward the entrance, their voices loud and frightened.
Bet grabbed the arm of a young woman running by, wearing a glittery costume. Her silver tights and gold leotard were draped in spangled scarves and netting, which sparkled in the bright sunlight. “What did you see?” Bet asked her.
“Nothing.” Her wild eyes focused and she took in Bet’s sheriff uniform. “I was inside the big top when I heard the gunshot. It sounded close, like it came from out back where the trucks are parked.”
Bet let the woman go and she slipped into the crowd as Bet picked up speed in the other direction. She caught up to Rob, who had paused a short distance away. “Could have come from behind the tent,” she said.
His expression was grim, his body taut as they jogged toward the far end of the midway. “At least there haven’t been any more shots,” he said.
If this had been a spree, the report wouldn’t have stopped at one. But Bet wasn’t taking any chances. Kane Stand, her sole full-time deputy, answered his cell on the first ring.
“We may have an active shooter at the carnival,” Bet said before he could get a word out. “Call Clayton and get him back here now.” She hoped her part-time deputy was still in the area, his night shift had only recently ended.
Kane’s calm voice came through. “Will do. He just left, so he hasn’t gotten far.” Kane grounded her as she fought to steady her breathing. “Do we need Addy?” he asked.
Addy Jamisen was an EMT who owned the only ambulance to serve the rural valley.
“Yes, please. Call her too. But wait with her and Clayton at the front entrance while Rob and I determine if someone has been injured or there’s still a threat.”
“OK, but if I hear gunshots, I’m coming to back you up.” Kane’s voice said not to argue with him doing his job. “Keep me posted on your location.”
“We’re heading past the southeast corner of the tent to get behind it. I’ll be in touch.”
She made eye contact with Rob, and they moved faster in tandem again, weapons drawn.
The tent blocked their view of all the travel trailers for the crew and performers parked behind it, along with transport vehicles for rides and booths and animals. As they came around the side of the tent, the forest of vehicles and trailers threw angular shadows onto the ground. Danger could hide in the fractured light.
Fifty feet away, a man lay face down in the dirt near the back of the tent—as if the gunman had already hit the bull’s-eye, only to slip away in the crowd.
***
Author Bio
Elena Taylor spent several years working in theater as a playwright, director, designer, and educator before turning her storytelling skills to fiction. Her first series, the Eddie Shoes Mysteries, written under Elena Hartwell, introduced a quirky mother/daughter crime fighting duo. She is also the author of the standalone suspense novel, The Haunting of Emily Grace.
With the Sheriff Bet Rivers Mysteries, Elena returns to her dramatic roots and brings readers much more serious and atmospheric novels. Located in Washington State, Elena produces tense and suspenseful investigations for a lone sheriff in an isolated community.
Her favorite place to be is at Paradise, the property she and her hubby own south of Spokane, Washington. They live with their equines, dogs, and cats.
Michael Harrier has built his reputation on a system no one else uses. Every contract comes with two targets. One dies. Someone else takes the blame.
It’s worked flawlessly for years.
Until now.
What should be a clean hit starts to unravel. A woman with a violent past pulls him off course. A single mistake threatens to expose everything. And for the first time, Harrier is forced to improvise.
Meanwhile, LAPD homicide sergeant Jordan Becker is hunting a killer he can’t pin down.
But he’s built his career on getting results where others stall out.
The case doesn’t follow any rules. The evidence doesn’t hold. The story keeps shifting. And the deeper Becker digs, the clearer it becomes he’s chasing someone smarter, faster, and always just out of reach.
As Harrier’s world tightens and Becker starts to break through, both men are pulled into a game where every move has consequences—and no one is as untouchable as they think.
Because this time, getting away with murder isn’t the hardest part.
BIRDS OF PREY DON’T SING by Joe Cary is engrossing dark thriller featuring an assassin traumatized by his past and living by his own moral code and the damaged detective determined to catch him. This is the author’s debut novel, and it is truly difficult to put down even with some emotionally difficult to read scenes.
The main characters in this novel are Michael Harrier, the assassin who makes the person ordering his service pick one victim to kill and one victim to frame for the murder, Chensea, a woman on the run from her Vegas bookie ex who has Michael questioning his personal rules, and LAPD homicide detective Jordan Becker who will do anything to get his man which is what has gotten him in trouble before. All three of these characters are fully developed in all their shades of gray and black. Even as you learn more about each, you may feel you want to like them, or excuse something they have done, but there is no white knight in this novel.
The plot and pace of this novel is flawless. The step-by-step investigation is realistic, and each minute flaw made by Michael is a reward to Jordan’s doggedness. The action is intense and there is a lot of blood, so it is not good for the squeamish, but what I expect for a novel of this type. The ending is not what I was expecting and frankly, I am still not sure how I feel about it. I believe it is a conclusion that will be discussed by many every time this book is read.
I highly recommend this dark and gritty assassin thriller!
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About the Author
Joe Cary’s stories have appeared in One Story, XRAY Literary Magazine, BULL, MonkeyBicycle, and elsewhere, and also earned a Special Mention in the 2020 Pushcart Prize Anthology and a Best of the Net nomination. A former Angeleno, he currently lives with his family in Philadelphia, where he fights money laundering, fraud, and other financial crimes. Birds of Prey Don’t Sing is his first novel.
When a husband, wife, and son are murdered in their Denver home and the family’s teenage twins vanish, the case draws the attention of FBI profilers Helen Belle and Benedict Hoffman. It triggers more than professional alarm. It mirrors a horrific case they investigated five years ago, when a boy slaughtered his family and went mute after speaking only a handful of haunting words. Among them: Midnight Man.
Then, nearly thirteen hundred miles away, one of the twins is found dead in a snowy Ohio field, and the parallels between the past and present cases grow more disturbing. Identical suicide notes. The same symbolic blood imagery. And a shared obsession with an online fantasy game. Its mastermind is an influencer who manipulates his most vulnerable and alienated players into killing the people they love most.
The Midnight Man is back.
Helen and Benedict must hunt the darkest corners of the internet to find him before someone else falls prey to an insidious evil that, for now, is in total control of the game.
A VOICE IN THE DARK (Benedict Hoffman and Helen Belle Book #1) by Barbara Nickless is a chilling crime thriller/FBI police procedural that is very relevant in all current discussions regarding AI, minors’ use of the internet, and the ever-present dangers on the world wide web. This is the start of a new series with two compelling protagonists and a serial killer crime plot that hooked me immediately.
Five years ago, Helen Belle and Benedict Hoffman had their belief in an outside influence and assistance from the Midnight Man in the slaughter by a boy of his entire family discredited in court. Helen goes on with her work at the FBI and Benedict walks out of his life and job. A detective from the old case is faced with a similar case as well as the kidnapping of the twin of the believed perpetrator and alerts FBI agent Helen Belle.
From almost identical suicide notes to a shared obsession with an on-line multi-player fantasy game, Helen believes the Midnight Man is back and reaches out to now Professor Benedict Hoffman for assistance. They put their personal past aside and work together to unravel hidden identities and motives as they realize they are racing the clock to rescue the missing twin and stop the Midnight Man before someone else is led to murder.
I was pulled into this story immediately and terrified by the possible reality of the crime plot. Ms. Nickless does a good job of not preaching that the internet is all bad and all gamers are going to become killers, but the gray of the situations and discusses the type of adolescents that can be influenced. The crimes are horrific but could also be ripped right out of the current news. Helen and Benedict are interesting protagonists with not only a somewhat unique outlook on humanist psychology on the study of crime, but with interesting backstories, also. This is a couple I will look forward to following in their future investigations.
I highly recommend this first book in this compelling crime thriller series!
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About the Author
Barbara Nickless is the award-winning, WSJ and #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of nine novels; her first and third series have been optioned for film. A teacher and activist, she teaches combat veterans and civilians in the U.S. and Ukraine. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, the FBI Citizens Academy Alumni Association, the World Affairs Council and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. A former fencer and falconer, Barbara lives in Colorado where she loves to hike, cave, snowshoe, and drink single malt Scotch.
Lou Gomersall’s going as far as it takes. And there’s no turning back.
When her nineteen-year-old daughter Abby disappears, Lou embarks on a reckless road trip in the family RV, scouring the highways and back roads of California. Through desert and mountains, into the woods, and to the ocean’s edge.
A year later, the police don’t believe Lou’s theory that four other missing young women have been taken by the same elusive predator. So, when another college sophomore vanishes, Lou jumps on the fresh trail, enlisting millennial #vanlifers, Gen Z entrepreneurs, boomer RVers, homeless sages, truck stop prostitutes, and everyone in between in her do-or-die mission to rescue Abby …
THE GRAPEVINE (The Lost Highway Book #1) by Alexandra Sokoloff and Craig Robertson is a tension-filled thriller featuring a mother who will go anywhere and do anything to find her missing daughter. This is a collaboration between two authors I have enjoyed reading individually, so of course I was excited when I was asked to read this book.
Lou Gomersall’s daughter, Abby, is missing without any clues. Leaving her husband at home, she takes the family RV and begins scouring the highways and byways of California. She collects any mention of other missing young women and uses the network of other people on the road living the van life, campground operators, and even prostitutes at truck stops to search for connections. Even when the police are skeptical and tell her to stay out of the cases she has found and go home, she continues. She refuses to believe her daughter is dead, no matter how crazy she seems or acts.
Lou is on a mission to save Abby and kill the man who took her.
Lou is such a memorable protagonist. You have empathy for her, you feel sorrow for her, you cheer her on even when she seems or acts crazy, and you keep hoping with each revelation she discovers the truth of what happened to all the missing girls, not just Abby. All the secondary characters are believable, and I was glad she had Ethan in the second half of the book to help her search for clues and try to keep her more grounded in reality. The plot pace continuously builds as more pieces of the puzzle of the missing young women cases are revealed. The ending chapters kept me on a rollercoaster of emotions and left me completely shocked and not expecting the revelation at the climax of the crime plot and I love it when that happens. I am not sure what these authors and this series will have instore in the future, but you can definitely count me in.
I highly recommend this emotionally charged, edge-of-your-seat crime thriller!
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About the Author
Alexandra Sokoloff is a Bram Stoker, Anthony, and Black Quill Award nominated author of the supernatural thrillers The Harrowing, The Price, The Unseen, Book of Shadows, The Shifters, The Space Between, and the bestselling Huntress/FBI Thrillers series. As a screenwriter she has sold original horror and thriller scripts and adapted novels for numerous Hollywood studios. She is a California native and a graduate of UC Berkeley.
Craig Robertson had a twenty-year career as a journalist with a Scottish Sunday newspaper before becoming a full-time author. His gritty crime novels are set on the mean streets of contemporary Glasgow. His first novel, Random, was shortlisted for the 2010 CWA New Blood Dagger, longlisted for the 2011 Crime Novel of the Year, and was a Sunday Times bestseller. Murderabilia was longlisted for the 2017 Crime Novel of the Year and shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize. The Photographer and Watch Him Die were longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize.
