NetGalley Top Reviewer

NetGalley Top Reviewer
NetGalley Top Reviewer

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Flowers on her Grave (Detective Katie Scott #3) by Jennifer Chase

A fast-paced police procedural/crime thriller --the third installment in a series featuring Detective Katie Scott of the Pine Valley Sheriff's Department.

Katie has been promoted to head the cold case division by her uncle who happens to be the Sheriff. She has a part-time partner, Deputy McGaven, who also works patrol on alternate days. Katie is a vet with history of two tours as a K-9 operative in Afghanistan. She suffers from anxiety and PTSD and has finally sought some therapy. She has a new man, Chad, in her life and things are going well for her.

Katie and Chad attend an anniversary party at the home of Katie's uncle and aunt. The next morning, as is their tradition, she shows up to the house to find her uncle dazed and bloody and her aunt dead in the laundry room. Immediately, the Sheriff is arrested and Katie -- though officially barred from the case -- begins her own shadow investigation with the help of her mentor, Nick. Meanwhile, Katie and McGaven are looking into a cold case murder that occurred many years ago as well as a missing persons case. Katie is determine to prove that her uncle did not kill her aunt and to solve the other old cases as well. NO SPOILERS.

Katie Scott is the typical female detective of this genre. Headstrong, rebellious, doesn't follow rules or procedures, and somehow manages to get all kinds of support and backup to follow her down into danger. After 3 books, I find her irritating. Everyone is always asking how she is and despite her PTSD and anxiety, she manages to get the job done taking huge risks herself and endangering other people as she goes off on her own without telling anyone her plans. And does back-up show up in time when she needs it? I can't figure how she keeps her job -- oh wait, she's the Sheriff's niece. Anyway, the story is decent though convoluted. I didn't guess the identity of the killer and there were plenty of red herrings and suspects though the motive was ever so very teeny tiny slim. Lots of convenient coincidences for sure. It was a quick, easy read over a couple of hours. I will most likely want to read the future books in this series as I'm invested.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read and review.

This is the third book in a series and I've read both #1 and #2 in order.
Genre - police procedural, crime thriller

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