Tag: #policeprocedural

Feature Post and Book Review: Salvation Station by Kathryn Schleich

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for SALVATION STATION by Kathryn Schleich. I loved this chase for a heinous female serial killer and I was surprised to learn this is the author’s first novel.

Below you will find a book synopsis, my book review and the author’s bio. Enjoy!

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Book Synopsis

When committed female police captain Linda Turner, haunted by the murders of two small children and their pastor father, becomes obsessed with solving the harrowing case, she finds herself wrapped up in a mission to expose a fraudulent religious organization and an unrepentant killer.

Despite her years of experience investigating homicides for the force, Captain Linda Turner is haunted by the murders of the Hansen family. The two small children, clothed in tattered Disney pajamas, were buried with their father, a pastor, in the flower garden behind a church parsonage in Lincoln, Nebraska. But Mrs. Hansen is nowhere to be found—and neither is the killer.

In St. Louis, the televangelist Ray Williams is about to lose his show—until one of his regular attendees approaches him with an idea that will help him save it. Despite his initial misgivings, Ray agrees to give it a try. He can’t deny his attraction to this woman, and besides, she’d assured him the plan is just—God gave her the instructions in a dream.

Multiple story lines entwine throughout this compelling mystery, delving into the topics of murder, religious faith, and the inherent dangers in blindly accepting faith as truth. While Reverend Williams is swept up in his newfound success and plans for his wedding, Captain Turner can only hope that she and her team will catch the Hansens’ cunning killer—before more bodies surface.

“Salvation Station is your next must-read mystery. Kathryn Schleich perfectly blends together a taut tale of murder in the church. A devilishly good tale.” —CARA LOCKWOOD, USA Today best-selling author of I Do (But I Don’t)

“Salvation Station is an edge-of-your-seat, page-turning thriller that might possibly leave you unable to sleep. This book is what we need in the world right now—a killer we can hate and a model cop we can get behind, showing us that women are as fierce as men and then some.” —MARGO DILL, Managing Editor, WOW! Women On Writing

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

SALVATION STATION by Kathryn Schleich is a debut police procedural suspense/thriller by a new to me author. It is an intense story revolving around a dogged police captain searching for a heinous female serial killer who preys on widowed preachers and their flocks.

I was surprised when I found out this is the author’s first novel. The intertwining plots of the police investigation lead by Captain Turner and the crimes and manipulations of Susannah Baker as she works her way into a new preacher’s life and televangelist show are well paced, compelling and realistic. The author was able to both move the plot along at a good pace and yet depict that this case took many months to solve.

Linda Turner is a police Captain that the author brought to life with her dogged pursuit of justice for Rev. Hanson and his two children. Susannah Baker is a serial killer who is a master manipulator with no conscious, but the author does give her a background that shows that she could have chosen a different path. Her only love is money and self-preservation. All the secondary characters were realistic and fully fleshed.

Religion plays a big part in this suspense/thriller, but not like you would find in a Christian themed book. Both Linda and Malachi state their suspicion of organized religion after years of being investigators and seeing the worst in people. The killer uses religion and peoples’ blind faith to manipulate and steal from them. Then you have the preachers who all truly believe and they only see the good and a second chance for happiness with the supposedly god fearing Susannah. I thought the author did a well-balanced depiction of good vs. evil with religion being used as both.

I can highly recommend this suspense/thriller!

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Author Bio


Kathryn Schleich has been a writer for thirty years. Her most recent publications include the short story “Reckless Acts,” featured in After Effects: A Zimbell House Anthology, and her story “Grand Slam,” published in The Acentos Review in May 2017. She is the author of two editions of the book Hollywood and Catholic Women: Virgins, Whores, Mothers, and Other Images, which evolved from her master’s thesis. Her guest posts have been featured on the Women On Writing blog, The Muffin, and she writes for the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation’s volunteer newsletter.

When she’s not writing, Schleich is likely volunteering in the education and arts communities in the Twin Cities, where she lives. Friends, family, good food, wine, and traveling are important aspects of her life. Salvation Station is her first novel and will be available in April 2020.

Book Review: Cold Blood by Robert Brynzda

RATING 5 out of 5 Stars:

COLD BLOOD (Detective Erika Foster, #5) by Robert Brynzda had me turning the pages as fast as I could read them. This installment not only gave me my usual intense detective story, but more character development involving Erika, her personal life decisions and the contrasting study of the downward spiral of personal life decisions of an average young woman. This book alternates between the present investigation and the past evolution of the evil responsible for all of this violence.

Erika and her team begin working a gruesome case of dismembered bodies being found washed up on shore in suitcases in the present. Erika works the case with Moss at her side, while still dealing with guilt over Peterson, who is still on medical leave. The whole force must also, at the same time, deal with a major betrayal by one of their own which can have major ramifications far into the future.

As you follow the case in the present, you alternately follow Nina in the recent past. Every decision in her life moves her along a path of no return. Our lives change with every decision or fork in the road, every person we meet or fall in love with and this author has written a character that you cannot stop wishing for her to get a break or have someone intervene even with all the death and violence she participates in.

Mr. Brynzda has added more character development, moral and ethical decisions and depth to each main character in book #5 besides an interesting and fast moving investigation. This book is fast paced and engaging, but it is also more graphic in its violence than previous books in the series. He will definitely have me coming back for more.

Another great addition to this series!

Thanks very much to Bookouture and Net Galley for allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Lone Wolf by Sara Driscoll

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

If I see a book contains a suspense plot and a dog, I am definitely grabbing it! LONE WOLF (FBI K-9 #1) did not disappoint. The first in a new series by Sara Driscoll takes you inside the FBI K-9 unit and focuses on Meg Jennings and her dog, Hawk.

The action in this book takes off at the beginning with a bombing via drone of a government building by the National Mall in Washington, DC. Meg and her black Lab, Hawk, are sent into the aftermath for search and rescue. (The author gives a very realistic description of the scene and the work this team would do together.) This is just the start of this bomber’s agenda of revenge on government agencies he feels have destroyed his life. It is a race to find out who is behind this devastation and stop him before more innocents die.

The book is an easy to read thriller/suspense with a few graphic scenes of violence from the bombings. It is a page turner that will keep you engaged. Meg lives with her sister, Cara, who is a professional dog trainer and their dogs Hawk, Blink, a red brindle retired racing greyhound and Saki, a blue pit bull therapy dog. I especially loved this author’s take on pit bull bans, because I live with two pit bull rescues that I love dearly.  

With Clay McCord, a reporter from the Washington Post and Todd Webb, a firefighter and EMT, you have a bit of possible romance in future books. There are also two other teams of FBI K-9s, Brian with his German Shepard, Lacie, and Lauren with her border collie, Rocco. There is a lot of information besides plot in this first book. I would like to see future books in this series have more attention given to character depth, but besides that, I felt this was a great start to a new series I will definitely be following!

 

Book Review: Among The Wicked by Linda Castillo

among-the-wicked

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

I am never disappointed when I get my hands on a Kate Burkholder story by Linda Castillo. Among The Wicked is the eighth book and there are three novellas. It is as strong as the first in the series! Ms. Castillo’s writing style pulls me in and keeps me reading as Kate suffers the trials and tribulations of solving another crime involving the Amish. The climax had me stunned with a great plot twist!

Police Chief Kate Burkholder is asked to go on leave in Painters Mill, OH and go undercover as a plain widow in an Amish community in upstate New York to discover what happened to a young Amish girl found frozen to death and the possible abuse of children. As Kate becomes familiar with the Amish of this community, she is puzzled by the extreme reverence and/or real fear of the families towards their Bishop. She becomes aware of disappearances, physical punishments and strange youth counselling by or with the blessing of Bishop Schrock which would never happen in any other Amish community.

Kate’s questions not only focus on the possible crimes in the community, but are self-directed as well. She and BCI Agent Frank Tomasetti’s personal lives are moving along well, but she misses the sense of community the Amish women experience. She has to deal with her feelings about her Amish roots, which need to be made without blinders to keep herself safe and alive in the present. The evil in this Amish community is more than anyone was expecting.

Thank you very much to St. Martin’s Press and Net Galley for giving me a free eARC in exchange for an honest review. I love Kate Burkholder!