#policeprocedural – Page 4 – Avonna Loves Genres

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Her Silent Bones by Pamela Fagan Hutchins

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for HER SILENT BONES (Delaney Pace Book #1) by Pamela Fagan Hutchins on this Bookouture Blog Tour.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

Fifteen years ago I watched my father’s murder.

Now, having never truly recovered from losing her father all those years ago, Detective Delaney Pace is devastated when her brother and sister-in-law are killed in a car crash. Packing up her life she heads back to the rugged cowboy town of Kearney, Wyoming. Her niece Kateena is just eleven years old and Delaney will do anything to keep her safe…

Now there’s another killer on the loose, and he’s already taken his first victim.

New to the local police force, when a body is found on a secluded mountain trail Delaney is called to the scene. Surrounded by imposing pine trees, a young woman lies still in the moonlight. Gazing into her dark, unblinking eyes Delaney’s heart pounds wildly in her chest as she recognises the victim. It’s her beloved sister-in-law: Kateena’s mother, Lila. But she died weeks before. Didn’t she?

There’s evil lurking in this town and I’ll stop at nothing to hunt down the truth and deliver justice. With Kateena traumatised all over again, when Delaney links Lila’s murder back to the place where her own father was killed she realizes she must face her own dark past to catch the man responsible. But little does she know that the killer has already made their next deadly move. Back at home, Kateena should be in bed sleeping soundly, but her room is empty. Kateena is missing…

Can Delaney uncover the truth behind the killings and save Kateena before it’s too late?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/202526858-her-silent-bones?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=3u5UkiffHc&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out 0f 5 Stars

HER SILENT BONES (Delaney Pace Book #1) by Pamela Fagan Hutchins is an exciting and fast-paced new crime thriller/police procedural series featuring a tough and determined female detective in small town Kearney, Wyoming. This is a new to me author and a very promising start to a new series that I am looking forward to following in the future.

Delaney Pace returns to her hometown after ten years of ice-trucking to take care of her eleven-year-old niece, Kateena, who has been orphaned with the death of her parents. She goes to the county sheriff and gets her job back as an investigator. Right away she is thrown into a murder investigation with a new detective from California who is talented with computers, but out of his depth in the wilds of Wyoming and possibly hiding an agenda of his own.

With one woman dead and another missing, the killer then raises the stakes when he takes Delaney’s niece. Can Delaney discover the identity of the killer and rescue her niece before it is too late?

This is a crime thriller with multiple surprising plot twists that kept me turning the pages, especially in the last few chapters. The plot throughout moves at a fast rate with ever escalating stakes. The crime/killer plot in this book is solved, but there is an over-arching plot involving another antagonist and questions from Delaney’s past that are uncovered and still need answered in future books. So, there is a cliffhanger for that plotline. Delaney is street tough, tenacious, and intelligent and takes a beating in this story, but just keeps going. While others see her as intimidating, she loves her niece and bulldog and is willing to help others down on their luck. She is a complex character that surprised me on several occasions, and I am looking forward to seeing how her character evolves in future books.

I recommend this captivating start to a new crime thriller/police procedural series with a strong female protagonist, and I will be checking out other books by this author, also.

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About the Author

USA Today bestselling and Silver Falchion Best Mystery winning mystery/thriller/suspense author (and recovering attorney and investigator) who splits time between an off-the-grid lodge on the face of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains and a rustic cabin on Maine’s Lake Mooselookmeguntic with her husband, kids and grandkids, rescue pets and sled dog, and draft cross horses.

Writes for Bookouture and independently.

Host of Crime & Wine: Novelist Chats with Pamela Fagan Hutchins.

Social Media Links

Website: https://pamelafaganhutchins.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pamela.fagan.hutchins.author

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PamelotH

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/pamela-fagan-hutchins

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: A Detective’s Deadly Secrets and Vanished by Anna J. Stewart

Book Description – A Detective’s Deadly Secrets

To solve her husband’s death…

She needed the man who still adored her.

Detective Lana Tate’s convinced there’s only one man who can help untangle her husband’s mysterious death: Agent Eamon Quinn. The FBI superstar is an old friend who will stop at nothing to find the truth. He joins forces with Lana—the once-favorite colleague he’d secretly pined for. But as their long-buried attraction bursts into flame, so does the danger threatening them at every turn…

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Book Description – Vanished

She’ll risk everything to expose the truth.

Since her twin sister Sylvie’s disappearance seven years ago, single mother Mabel Reynolds has turned grief into action and become a strong voice for victims of violence and abuse.

When new revelations shed light on what may have happened not only to Sylvie, but dozens of other women, Mabel’s hope for answers is reignited. But the new oh-so-charming DA overseeing the investigation seems more interested in a quick rather than an accurate resolution.

With little faith in the system, Mabel isn’t about to stay quiet, not when she’s finally close to the truth. She’s willing to go up against anyone—even a smug, irritating, attractive DA to get the answers she and other families deserve.

Open and shut.

That’s what Assistant DA Paul Flynn has been told about his new assignment supervising a house of horrors case. With a high-profile conviction at stake, Paul can’t afford to make a wrong move if his professional goals are to be achieved.

But Mabel Reynolds has his attention. All of it. Attraction aside, the woman knows far more than what’s in the official files which makes her something even more intriguing. But using Mabel as an asset means exposing her and her young daughter to even more danger. Danger that is closing in on them from every
side. As even darker forces appear, and their lives are threatened, Paul is faced with risking not only his entire career, but also the one thing he never anticipated losing: his heart.

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Elise’s Thoughts

A Detective’s Deadly Secrets by Anna J. Stewart is sadly the last in the series. The hero is FBI Agent Eaman Quinn, someone readers should be familiar with. He is reunited with a former girlfriend, Lana Tate. She is searching for answers surrounding her late husband’s death but needs his help. Together they work the case and become reacquainted.

Vanished is the second book in the “Red Lily series.” It featuressingle mother Mabel Reynolds who wants to find answers regarding her twin sister’s disappearance. When new revelations shed light on what may have happened not only to her twin, Sylvie, but dozens of other women, Mabel hopes to find answers. New to the case is Assistant DA Paul Flynn who is willing to listen to her concerns and to investigate the case. Even allowing Mabel and her friends to add their input. As they get closer to finding what happened their lives become endangered. As they work together there is an instant attraction which complicates matters further.

Both these books have a riveting suspenseful story with some romance. Readers will be on the edge of their seats as they won’t want to put these books down.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?

Anna J. Stewart: This final book in the “Honor Bound Series” evolved. I wanted it to be Eaman’s story, appearing first in Gone in The Night, book three. When I ended the series, I wanted to go full circle with this book eight. Since book three he has made appearances in all the books. It made sense to me to make his love interest someone he knew but could not get involved with because she was married.

EC: How would you describe Eaman?

AJS: Honorable, protective, loyal, calm, and confidant. He is somewhat lost, questioning his own motivations as to why he still is an FBI Agent. He specializes in child abductions and child killings.

EC: How would you describe Lana?

AJS: Lana is the one who really guides the story. She can kick butt. She was an alcoholic but is now ninety days sober. Determined, skittish, stubborn, with a lot of inner strength. She makes poor decisions.

EC: Why the alcoholism angle?

AJS: I made her newly sober. An alcoholic is always an alcoholic. I wanted her to be in a place where a relationship is not an impossibility, but she must be careful to take care of herself. I wanted to write a character with substance abuse for quite a while. For this romantic suspense it added an extra layer.

EC: The relationship?

AJS: She comes back into his life after her husband died eighteen months before. Lana has burned bridges because of her grief. He is the only person she can trust. Lana is an interesting counterbalance to him. He wants something more than work and darkness.

EC: How did you get the idea for your other book, Vanished in the “Red Lily Series?”

AJS: It is book two in the series. Exposed was the first book that ended with the heroine in Vanished, Mabel, having her sister disappeared eight years ago. I wanted to write a book where she experiences the loss of her identical twin sister but without any answers. There is a bit of a cliff hanger.

EC: How would you describe Mabel?

AJS: A single mom to an eight-year-old daughter, born at the same time her sister disappeared. She lives in an apartment building with four of her best friends, trying to help her what happened to her sister. She is going through a lot of emotional traumas. She is spiraling downward after Sylvie was tragically murdered. She is trying to deal with her emotions of anger, sadness, and frustration to find answers. Logically she knows Sylvie is dead but has a slimmer of hope she is alive.

EC: What was the significance to the twin sister, Sylvie, coming alive in Mabel’s dreams?

AJS: My editor is a twin. I read a lot and talked to them about the psychological connection of identical twins. She is part ghost and so much a part of Mabel. There is this inherent connection. Readers can think of Sylvie as a dream, ghost, and/or Mabel’s self-conscious. I hope they consider her as an actual character in the book.

EC: What are the differences between Mabel and Sylvie?

AJS: Mabel is practical, level-headed, logical, haunted, determined, and energetic. Sylvie was a dreamer, the romantic one, and happy. She chased the dream of stardom in Los Angeles. She always persevered.

EC: How would you describe Paul Flynn?

AJS: He grew up in Los Angeles and has always hated it. He is charming, kind, empathetic, tender with a little attitude. He is a high-profile DA which comes with a lot of confidence. I liked playing with the dynamic that depending on who he is in contact with he has some different personality traits. He is very good at adapting to different situations and handling different types of people. He thinks quickly on his feet.

EC: What about the relationship?

AJS: Paul and Mabel have an instant connection. He sees in Mabel someone who really needs answers.

EC: Next books?

AJS: Book three picks up a couple of weeks after Vanished ends. The epilogue of Vanished has a cliff hanger. The titled is Buried out in November. This will be the story of Dr. Cassia Davis, a forensic expert. She is has not left her apartment in four years, but the hero is hired as her eyes and ears.

The next book is the third book in my “Hawaiian Reunion series,” titled Surprise Second Chance. The plot has a single father who is dealing with some custody issues of his children with his ex. He needs to find the work-home balance. He is given the opportunity to reconnect with his high school sweetheart living in Hawaii.

THANK YOU!!

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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.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: What Waits in the Woods by Terri Pariato

Book Description

When Esmé Foster left the Boston suburbs to become a professional ballerina, the future shimmered with promise. Eleven years later, her career has been derailed by an injury, and Esme knows it’s time to come back to Graybridge to help her brother care for their ailing father. But her return coincides with an unthinkable crime. Kara Cunningham, one of Esme’s high school friends, is found dead in the woods behind the Fosters’ house.

Esmé is shocked and grieving, but also uneasy. In her dreams, she still sees the man who showed up at the scene of the car accident that killed her mother—and told Esmé he was going to kill her too. Family and friends insisted the figure was a product of Esmé’s imagination, that she was concussed after the crash. But she and Kara looked alike, sharing the same petite build, the same hair color. Could Kara’s murder have been a case of mistaken identity?

Detective Rita Myers is familiar with close-knit communities like Graybridge, where, beneath the friendliness, there are whispers and secrets. The town has seen other tragedies too, including the long-ago drowning of a young girl in a pond, deep in the woods. Even within the once-close circle of friends that included Kara and Esmé, Rita discerns a ripple of mistrust.

Day by day, Esmé discovers more about the place she left behind—and the friends and family she thought she knew. Soon, shining a light into the darkness to learn what really happened the night Kara died is the only way she can bring the nightmare to an end . . .

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Elise’s Thoughts

What Waits in The Woods by Terri Parlato has a riveting plot. Not only does it have a full mystery with many people of interest, but it also explores how an athlete, in this case a dancer, can have their career derailed by an injury.

Esmé Foster forcibly retired from her chosen career as a ballet dancer. Now, eleven years later she returns home to Graybridge. But her return home is anything but calm, considering it coincides with one of her high school friends, Kara Cunningham, found dead in the woods behind the Fosters’ house. Her crushed skull allows detective Rita Myers to realize it was not an accident, but a murder.

Now, Esmé’s high school friends, her family, and neighbors are all suspects. To make matters worse the killing has intensified the nightmares Esmé had after her mother was killed in a car accident when she was nine. She remembers a man who showed up at the scene of the car accident and told Esmé he was going to kill her too. Family and friends insist that no man exists and that her memory is faulty. But that never stopped the nightmares or her determination to find the “Phantom” man.

This story is told in two perspectives which increases the intensity. The neighbors, Mr. York, and the Ridley family, also have reasons to be considered people of interest. One is a creepy old man, and the family has a drug dealer, a convict who finished serving time, and a sister who has a brain injury from a childhood tumble down a flight of stairs and was suspected of quarreling with her sister and drowning her.

There are not only multiple suspects but also multiple twists and turns. Readers will be kept guessing as to who the killer is and what was their motive.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Why ballet?

Terri Parlato: I had the main character as a professional ballerina, but then her dancing days ended do to an injury. I explored how does she move forward. I wanted to give her a professional life and wrote about something I really love. I vicariously enjoyed ballet and read books about ballerinas. I went to the ballet whenever I could. Esmé had to retire at age 27 which is not unusual because they have a short career. Ballet is very hard on the body.

EC: It seems a lot of dancers and sports figures flounder when they must retire-do you agree?

TP: To be a ballerina and even with sports it is a passion. I wanted to write what happens to that person who devoted their whole life to something and it comes to an end. How would she handle it?

EC: Esmé and her friends?

TP: They were close friends. After Esmé graduated from high school she ran away to another state. Now that she is back home, she wants to reunite with her friends and is devasted that one of them, Kara, was murdered. She feels guilty because she never tried to keep up the friendship and now that Kara is dead, she has no chance of doing it. She had a lot of regrets. All these friends become suspects in Kara’s death.

EC: How would you describe the victim, Kara?

TP: Sweet, naïve, trusting, and an addict. Her father left when she was little which made her insecure.

EC: How about Esmé?

TP: When she was young, she was selfish. Her father was an alcoholic which affected her. But she matures throughout the book. I want my main character to go on a journey, changing for the better.

EC: Why different narratives?

TP: I used to write in third person. But then I read a book by Mary Kubica that had several points of view. I thought how it got me into the mind of the character, in first person. It also helps me build suspense as well.

EC: There is a quote in the book by, Esmé describing her family-can you explain?

TP: She felt being home was not great, but it was home sweet home. “There is something deep connecting us to the place where we grew up. The familiar scenery, smells, memories. It is a sense of belonging, shared histories…” Looking at my own life, I am very sentimental and nostalgic. Even though everything when I was a child was not necessarily happy, it was still home. I wanted to show how it was bittersweet for Esmé who was gone for eleven years, to now come home. Things might have been sad and scary, but she did find there were good times.

EC: How would you describe Detective Rita?

TP: This is the second book in the series. In the first book, All the Dark Places, Rita had another case to solve. I am still flushing out her personality. I wanted to create a detective who was an older woman. She is still vital in her career and is not someone who is pushed to the sidelines. She is a workaholic that limits her social life. She is very independent and tough.

EC: Why the “Sweet Dancer” poem in the beginning of the book?

TP: I am a former English teacher. I love poetry. To me, this sounds so much like Esmé. It is a poem about ballet, but there is some darkness in it as well. People will have read it before they start the story. I wanted to bring some artistic sentiment since Esmé is a retired ballerina in an emotional state. I think poetry elicits emotion.

EC: Next book?

TP: Rita will be in the next book. Same police department, same fictional town. There is no title yet. It should come out next December. There will be a compelling case for Rita to solve. There will be a third point of view. This one does not start with a murder, which is different than the first two books in the series.

THANK YOU!!

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Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Danger on the Island by Stewart Giles

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for DANGER ON THE ISLAND (DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #11) by Stewart Giles on this Books ‘n’ All Promotions Blog Tour.

Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, and the author’s bio and social media links. This series never disappoints. Enjoy!

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Book Blurb

The Island of Guernsey isn’t exactly a favourite destination for adrenaline junkies.
But it does have one thing that attracts a new breed of adventure freaks.

Cliff jumping is taking off on the island, and June appears to be the best time of year for those that way inclined to choose to partake in the sport.

When a young woman is killed after a jump, her death is judged a tragic accident, but when her body is retrieved, and the remains of another corpse is found on the rocks below, the Island Police are brought in.

It’s the last thing Detective Liam O’Reilly feels like. Still feeling the effects of a case that almost broke him, he really doesn’t need this.

But when he drags himself back to where he once was, and starts to understand what he’s dealing with he wakes up enough to realise he’s dealing with something much more dangerous than the cliffs that people are jumping off.

There is someone on the Island who likes to take things to the extreme, and O’Reilly is damned if they’re going to do it on his island.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127541869-danger-on-the-island?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=Z2JAu9hEPC&rank=1

DI O’REILLY MYSTERIES

Book 1 – Blood on the Island

Book 2 – Lies on the Island

Book 3 – Fear on the Island

Book 4 – Malice on the Island

Book 5 – Revenge on the Island

Book 6 – Christmas on the Island

Book 7 – Silence on the Island

Book 8 – Secrets on the Island

Book 9 – Chaos on the Island

Book 10 – Sadness on the Island

Book 11 – Danger on the Island

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

DANGER ON THE ISLAND (DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries Book #11) by Stewart Giles is an exciting, intricately plotted serial killer mystery featuring the feisty Irish DI Liam O’Reilly and his police team on the island of Guernsey. This book can be read as a crime mystery standalone, but the main characters continue to evolve with each book, and I feel they are best read in order. Every book in this series is amazing and will not disappoint.

Guernsey is usually a laid-back place to live and vacation, but this summer a new phenomenon for thrill-seekers is occurring on the island – tombstoning – which is the activity of jumping into the sea from high cliffs or other high points. When a group goes out early for a jump, the first girl off the cliff hits the jagged rocks instead of the sea and when the Coast Guard go to retrieve the body, they find a second female body impaled on the rocks.

O’Reilly is back to work after a terrible motorbike accident because he refuses to sit at home. As more bodies are found at the farthest points of the island with no identification, O’Reilly and his team are at a loss. No clues but footprints until a young boy films one of the murders, but the perpetrators are wearing masks. O’Reilly knows he and his team are being led and he is determined to turn that around and find what is really going on with this sudden bout of murders on the island.

I absolutely love every time I get to take a book trip to Guernsey and revisit all these characters. O’Reilly and all the recurring characters after these eleven books are fully drawn and I feel as though I am visiting old friends while also trying to figure out a well plotted and always surprising crime mystery. I was on the edge of my seat, as usual, reading this book and could not put it down. I know when I get an Island book that I had better have several hours to sit and get immersed because I never stop until the last page.

I highly recommend this gripping and exciting serial killer crime mystery book! I never miss one of these DI Liam O’Reilly Mysteries books.

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Author Bio

After reading English at 3 Universities and graduating from none of them, I set off travelling around the world with my wife, Ann, finally settling in South Africa, where we still live.

In 2014 Ann dropped a rather large speaker on my head and I came up with the idea for a detective series. DS Jason Smith was born. Smith, the first in the series was finished a few months later.

3 years and 8 DS Smith books later, Joffe Books wondered if I would be interested in working with them. As a self-published author, I agreed. However, we decided on a new series – the DC Harriet Taylor: Cornwall series.

The Beekeeper was published and soon hit the number one spot in Australia. The second in the series, The Perfect Murder did just as well.

I continued to self-publish the Smith series and Unworthy hit the shelves in 2018 with amazing results. I therefore made the decision to self-publish The Backpacker which is book 3 in the Detective Harriet Taylor series which was published in July 2018.

After The Backpacker I had an idea for a totally new start to a series – a collaboration between the Smith and Harriet thrillers and The Enigma was born. It brought together the broody, enigmatic Jason Smith and the more level-headed Harriet Taylor.

The Miranda trilogy is something totally different. A psychological thriller trilogy. It is a real departure from anything else I’ve written before.

The Detective Jason Smith series continues to grow. I also have another series featuring an Irish detective who relocated to Guernsey, the Detective Liam O’Reilly series. There are also 3 stand alone novels.

Social Media Links

Website: www.stewartgiles.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stewart.giles.33

Twitter: @stewartgiles

Book Review: The Blue Monsoon by Damyanti Biswas

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE BLUE MONSOON (Blue Mumbai Book #2) by Damyanti Biswas is an atmospheric and suspenseful crime thriller/police procedural pitting a Senior Inspector against a ritualistic serial killer in Mumbai, India during the monsoon season. This is the second book in the series, but it can be read as a standalone.

Senior Inspector Arnav Rajput is called to the scene of a brutal ritualistic murder on the steps of a Kaali temple. The desecration of the Hindu temple sets the city on edge. A video of the murder is uploaded onto the account of a Bollywood social media influencer which leads to many more threads of this tangled web of an investigation.

A second mutilated body is discovered, and Arnav finds himself not only searching for a killer, but also dealing with duplicity and betrayal in his own police station. He seeks the help of his old partner, Sita Haik and the two are thrown into the middle of the intricate plot of a killer.

I loved this second book in the series as much as the first, The Blue Bar. Ms. Biswas’ writing immerses the reader in the underbelly of Mumbai and in this book an added antagonist is the monsoon season. Arnav is a realistic character who has a strong sense of right and wrong, but he also must bend at times within a corrupt system. Not only does he have a difficult case to solve, but his paraplegic wife who is about to give birth finds herself in danger, too. All the characters are fully developed and play key roles in this intricate plot. The discussions between characters of the still prevalent caste system and subjugation of women in India was fascinating and educational. The crime plot is intricate and has many tentacles with several crimes and criminal enterprises overlapping. The tension ramped up continually to keep me turning the pages until a surprising conclusion.

I highly recommend this immersive crime thriller/police procedural with its unique setting and memorable characters.

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About the Author

Damyanti Biswas lives in Singapore. Her short stories have been published in magazines in the US, UK, and Asia, and she helps edit the Forge Literary Magazine. She runs a 15-year old blog at damyantiwrites.com/blog, where she speaks about her life, writing and reading.

Her debut crime novel, You Beneath Your Skin, has been optioned for screen by Endemol Shine. Her next, The Blue Bar, part of the Blue Mumbai series, was published Jan 1 2023 by Thomas & Mercer. The sequel, The Blue Monsoon, will be published in October 2023.

When she’s not reading, writing or cooking up a storm, you can reach her via Facebook at www.facebook.com/damyantiwrites, on Twitter and Instagram as @damyantig. She loves hearing from readers.

Visit Damyanti’s website to sign up to her newsletter, where she shares writing advice, book recommendations and slices from her Blue Mumbai universe.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.damyantiwrites.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DamyantiWrites/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/damyantig

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/damyanti-biswas

Book Review: Blessing of the Lost Girls by J.A. Jance

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

BLESSING OF THE LOST GIRLS (A Brady and Walker Family Novel Book #1) by J.A. Jance is a gripping serial killer crime mystery police procedural suspense with combined characters from two of Ms. Jance’s long time series. This book can be read as a standalone because the character’s relationships are explained, and the focus is on a new generation of both families.

Federal agent Dan Pardee is now working for a new government agency, Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Task Force (MIP). An unidentified burned body was found in Cochise County and identified two years later with newly submitted dental records by the new MIP unit. Dan is assigned the case which brings him into Joanna Brady’s jurisdiction, but it is Joanna’s daughter, criminal justice major Jenny Brady, who has information for this investigation.

Dan’s investigation begins to grow as he discovers a rodeo connection from this killer to several more missing girls. He now realizes he is chasing a serial killer who preys on marginalized girls and is skilled at not leaving a trail.

I felt this was an exceptionally strong crime mystery plot which the author took step-by-step to an exciting conclusion, even knowing who the serial killer is from the beginning. The story could be right out of the headlines with the focus on missing and murdered indigenous women. Dan is a determined and skilled law enforcement agent with an interesting Native American background which makes him perfect for his job. I also liked the possibility of Jenny Brady working with Dan in the future, which was left open. The serial killer is terrifying in his proficiency. I have heard of J.A. Jance for years, but this is the first book I have read by this author. I feel that helped me enjoy the new focus on these characters without expectations, but the marketing of it as a Brady and Walker book is confusing. Dan Pardee is a great character and I think he should be the focus in future marketing.

I found this engrossing serial killer crime mystery/police procedural suspense a thrilling read with a much needed focus on missing and murdered indigenous women. I am looking forward to more books featuring Dan Pardee.

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About the Author

J.A. Jance is the New York Times best selling author of 46 contemporary mysteries in four different series.

A voracious reader, J. A. Jance knew she wanted to be a writer from the moment she read her first Wizard of Oz book in second grade. Always drawn to mysteries, from Nancy Drew right through John D. McDonald’s Travis Magee series, it was only natural that when she tried her hand at writing her first book, it would be a mystery as well.

J. A. Jance went on to become the New York Times bestselling author of the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, three interrelated thrillers featuring the Walker family, and Edge of Evil. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.

Jance is an avid crusader for many causes, including the American Cancer Society, Gilda’s Club, the Humane Society, the YMCA, and the Girl Scouts. A lover of animals, she has a rescued Dachshund named Bella.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.jajance.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JAJance

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JAJance

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-a-jance