Title: Traces of Guilt (Evie Blackwell Cold Case #1)
Author: Dee Henderson
Pages: 400
Release Date: May 3, 2016
Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Bethany House
Format: eBook (also available in paperback)
Note: I received a free eBook copy of this novel through
NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
About the book:
A riveting
cold-case mystery from Dee Henderson.
Evie Blackwell
loves her life as an Illinois State Police Detective . . . mostly. She’s very
skilled at investigations and has steadily moved up through the ranks. She
would like to find Mr. Right, but she has a hard time imagining how marriage
could work, considering the demands of her job.
Gabriel Thane is
a lifetime resident of Carin County and now its sheriff, a job he loves. Gabe is
committed to upholding the law and cares deeply for the residents he’s sworn to
protect. He too would like to find a lifetime companion, a marriage like his
parents have. . . .
When Evie arrives
in Carin, Illinois, it’s to help launch a new task force dedicated to
reexamining unsolved crimes across the state. Spearheading this trial run, Evie
will work with the sheriff’s department on a couple of its most troubling
missing-persons cases. As she reexamines old evidence to pull out a few tenuous
new leads, she unearths a surprising connection . . . possibly to a third cold
case. Evie’s determined to solve the cases before she leaves Carin County, and
Sheriff Thane, along with his family, will be key to those answers.
My review:
This is an
intricately woven mystery.
The character
development couldn’t be better in my mind. I am always amazed at how many
characters there are in Dee Henderson’s books. I really like seeing how many
characters from previous novels make brief appearances in each new book. She
truly seems to have “a small world” scenario going on even crossing over from
series to series. Along with that she has a marvelous talent for revealing
personal information in a subtle way so that it feels like it comes out of a
clear blue sky.
The cases that
are being reexamined in this book are quickly summarized as each one is
initially discussed. They over the course of time they are slowly picked apart
and looked at from every possible angle.
One of the
aspects of the search that is covered is the search for cadavers using
specially trained dogs. The way that a handler works with a pair of dogs was
described in great detail. I was fascinated by the information given.
I do want to warn
that this is a very heavy book to read emotionally. The subject matter of two
of the cases made it a difficult read. On top of that there is a great deal of
focus placed on one of the family members who is looking for closure, and the
emotions that she has been dealing with for years. I found myself having to
take breaks from my reading just to work through the feelings that were stirred
up in me for what the characters were dealing with. To me though that is just
proof of how good the writing is.
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