I am cursing through this series in a matter of days and have already pre-ordered the fourth book which will be out in the spring of 2023. I have really enjoyed Griffin’s books and I am fully invested in reading all of her books before the year is out at this rate! I think I read this one in a day as well! Her books aren’t short either. They each run about 400 pages and within that 400 pages we have to have a believable romance, a complex mystery, and a resolution. That’s a tall order but Griffin absolutely delivers on a regular basis!
This one is probably my favorite in the series so far. The main characters felt older to me like later 30’s and I felt like I could relate to Miranda more than I could Bailey in the first book. Joel also felt older and more mature—-less hot head male ego and more thoughtful brooder. I also thought the mystery was really well done in this one and I enjoyed deciphering the clues!
If you are looking for a well done murder mystery, then look no further than Griffin’s books. Literally start anywhere with any of her series and you will be totally fine. Years ago I binged the Kay Scarpetta books and that’s what this reminds me of. Good solid characters with a twisted mystery! I love these books and cannot wait to share my thoughts on them with you guys!
Summary
When former forensic photographer Miranda Rhoads moves to the seaside town of Lost Beach, she’s decided to make her living as a wildlife photographer and put crime scenes behind her. But her plans are quickly upended when one morning, she comes across a couple sleeping in a canoe, entwined in an embrace. Looking closer, she realizes the man and woman aren’t asleep – they’ve been murdered.
Detective Joel Breda sets out to find answers – not only about the unidentified victims in the marshy death scene, but also about the aloof and beautiful photographer who seems to know more about his investigation than he does.
As they begin to unravel the motivation of a merciless serial killer, Miranda and Joel must race against the clock to make an arrest before the killer can find them first. (summary from Goodreads).
Review
One thing that Griffin does really well with all of her books is highlighting the unique landscape of Texas. She always features some kind o outdoor element—-a wildlife refuge, National Park, a beach resort area with a swamp—-when I think of Texas all I think of are the long stretches of oil fields in west Texas and lots of cowboy hats. So getting to explore this unique state in a new way is really exciting and makes me feel like I am right there. I actually want to go visit some of the areas that I have read about in her books now (Padre Island being at the top!). You can tell that she loved Texas and I think readers will enjoy that about her books.
This book really had a twisted mystery at its heart and I did NOT see the ending coming. I thought I had it all figured out but then it was like—-PLOT TWIST at the end! It was full steam ahead once things started coming together and I couldn’t put it down until I was done with it (which was naturally late at night!). I couldn’t wait until the morning to find out who was responsible and why. Griffin does such a good job at leading readers through the motive and clues and you simply can’t stop until you know what happened. This book had it all—-a twisted signature of the killer with the bird feathers, a complex motive and you just don’t see this one turning out how it does.
I also loved the romance in this one and thought it worked really well. In the first book Jacob was much more secretive when it came to sharing into with his love interest Bailey but in this book Joel treats Miranda as an equal and isn’t stingy with sharing with her. That’s likely because they are both in law enforcement but as a reader it was satisfying to see them collaborating rather than trying to get info out of each other. As I mentioned earlier both characters felt older to me. I can’t recall how old they are in the books but I read both of them as older and more mature and I appreciated that as an older reader (I’m in my 40s). Miranda had an established career and I felt like she just had this older and wiser bit about her and Joel also felt older. He had been a cop for a while with the hope of moving up to chief and he had a more ‘tame’ way about him in a way that a 20 something hot shot cop might be portrayed in other books. Either way I LOVED them together and felt like this was my favorite book so far in the series!
Book Info and Rating
Format
352 pages, PaperbackPublished
March 30, 2021 by BerkleyISBN
9780593197349 (ISBN10: 0593197348)
Review copy provided by, personal collection. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 5 stars
Genre: romantic suspense, mystery
The Lit Bitch 