Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Lieutenant Abigail Hargrove comes from a long line of cops…dirty cops. She’s an exemplary, detached officer when on duty with the Tacoma Police Department, but after hours, she strives in secret to atone for her relatives’ corruption. Abby agrees to ride with her mounted unit during the Washington State Fair, expecting a relaxing few weeks of horses and PR work, but a bittersweet reunion with childhood friend Kira sets into motion a chain of events that makes Abby’s private and public lives collide.

Wetland biologist Kira Lovell devotes her life to her daughter and to a vocal defense of the environment. A chance meeting with her first love stirs long forgotten feelings, but her life is thrown into chaos before they can rekindle their romance.A kidnapping and a murder take place behind the innocence of the midway. Abby has to solve both crimes to protect Kira, even if it means revealing more of her family’s shameful past.

 

Book Review

This is a well paced and thrilling mystery revolving around two enigmatic women coming together accidentally, and right from the start setting off periodically scintillating sparks. A good deal of the action occurs at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup and that was an unexpected treat since I have never been to such an event. Moreover, it was a real delight having a mounted police division patrol the State Fair in this story. This unit is supervised by a lieutenant who is one of the key females in the story. For the upcoming weeks she will be filling in for a missing officer at this high profile publicity event. Horses, their owners, caretakers, and companions add wonderful and rich elements in counterpoint to the increasingly violent incidents plaguing the two primary ladies. Wondrously intense!

Abby, Lieutenant Abigail Hargrove, head of the mounted police division, is on a crusade to correct the hardships her grandfather and her brother have inflicted on innocent civilians as they pursue their self-centered greedy illegalities. They were both police officers too, and Abby does get a good deal of backlash because of their underhanded tactics and dealings. In fact, most people jump to the conclusion that Abby is just like them. So she generally puts on a kind of constructed persona within her work environment attempting to distance herself from her family’s history, but it generally looks and feels like an uphill battle. To the best of her ability, Abby simply accepts this apparent inevitability while she marches steadily forward in her crusade. At times, it is a heavy burden to witness and experience indirectly. Quizzically taxing!

Kira is the mother of Julie and a wetland biologist currently attempting to assist in protecting the marshes in Tacoma. Additionally, she was one of the victims of Abby's brother Rick during an instance of his following in his grandfather's footsteps. Early on Kira is also uncomfortably confronted by a powerful local developer named Tad Milford, but she really holds her own even while somewhat quaking on the inside. She draws a good deal of her strength from her daughter and her stunning commitment to her job. Curiously she is surprisingly attracted to Abby. This happens in part when Abby and Julie take to each other and the unexpected connection that becomes eventually known about the horse Julie won in an essay contest. Kira has prodigious internal toughness and a beautiful loving heart. Incredibly blue-ribbon!  

The trials and tribulations that both women go through for all manner of reasons were not easy for me to read, assimilate, and reconcile. However, their growing love, the amazing setting, and the charming and ardent support from the many good folks who stepped up plus a really unexpected ending made this a very satisfying read. Unanticipatedly fascinating!

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Bold Strokes Books for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 240 pages/74500 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	01-July-2015
Price	$9.99 ebook, $16.95 paperback, $19.99 bundle
Buy Link	http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/9781626393431B.html