A Dead Body, A Cryptic Clue—Will Jo Oliver Solve the Riddle in Time? Police Chief Jo Oliver needed a little time to herself. But when her escape to Wisconsin turns deadly, she teams up with FBI agent Nick Vitarello, hoping to catch the Bow Tie Killer. Their romantic past and complicated present leads them into uncharted territory as they match wits with a psychopath bent on destroying everything they hold dear.
Review
I’m always up for a romantic suspense novel and so I decided to give a new author a chance! My thoughts:
What I liked
The characters. This is not a super long book, yet the author somehow managed to introduce all of these different characters and flesh them out. By the time I finished the book, even though it wasn’t the first one in the series, I really felt like I had a finger on everyone’s personality. I didn’t get confused and I wasn’t overwhelmed.
Relationship focused. I will admit that I like my romantic suspense to be more relationship focused (doesn’t have to be romantic relationship) than mystery focused and we get that here. A little too much, but it was definitely more my cup of tea.
The romance. Alas this is book three, so I didn’t see the romance develop, but that actually didn’t bother me. I enjoyed watching Jo and her guy together. I will be honest and say that because it was the third book, at times I didn’t get why there was any hesitation on Jo’s part. But Jo and her guy together made the book shine. I really like when couples can respect and work together.
Spiritually, Jo is learning what it means to trust the Holy Spirit and I loved how several times throughout the book, she stops what she is doing and prays and seeks guidance.
What I didn’t like:
The mystery. It’s not so much that I didn’t like it. It’s that Jo seemed less concerned about the mystery and more focused on personal relationships…unless the mystery got in the way. And thus, I as the reader was less focused on the mystery unless it reared it’s head. I was never worried about Jo or concerned it wouldn’t be solved. And then, it was solved rather early on and so I wasn’t focused on who-done-it (though it takes them a minute to catch the guy). It kind of felt like Jo’s job got in the way of the story…
Crime-solving Jo. Again, this is not necessarily something I disliked, but Jo was portrayed as this awesome detective, and yet she continually needed rescuing and technically, she didn’t really solve the mystery. And let’s not address all the men who were in love with her. This might be because I jumped into the middle of the series, but I really wanted to see her get things done so-to-speak.
Romantic scale: 7
Overall, a very cute series. If you like romantic suspense, check this one out!
**I received a copy from the author. My opinion was not affected in anyway.**
remaininhislove 