Second in a forensic mystery series.
The past comes back to haunt Dr. Emily Hartford and her old high school friends in Freeport when the bones of a classmate are unearthed in a new housing development.
Since her father's death, Emily has been clearing out his home medical examiner's office. She has stepped in to investigate along with her old boyfriend, Sheriff Nick Larson. Soon some secrets and betrayals come to light. Sandi Parkman was murdered. Is Nick responsible?
Alas, despite the author's expertise and great ability to describe medical details, the actual mystery and investigation narrative is sophomoric and irksome. The main problem with this series is the main character, Emily. She's so self-righteous and annoying with her judgmental attitude. If that's not bad enough, she's the object of desire of almost every male in sight. She's not half as clever as an old teenage amateur sleuth that many of use grew up wanting to emulate. Other annoyances within the book include Delia calling Emily, "doll", all the time and the convenience of Delia being an FBI agent running the coffee and bake shop in town. Emily's ability to steal phones and crack passwords to unlock them, although a necessary plot device, was unbelievable. Emily running all over town, trying to get a job at a strip club, her indecisiveness in her personal life, and her holier than thou attitude just make this so unappealing. She needs to mature and get real.
On another note, I have the last two books in the series and I just don't know if I will read them or not. I was able to listen to the audiobook while following along in the e-book with this one and it definitely helped improve the experience. The narrator did a decent job with the voices, but this production definitely could have benefitted from a male actor as well.
Do I recommend? I'm a lover of all things medical so that's why I was drawn to this, but you might enjoy it if you can get past a dislike of the main character. I'm rating this 2.5 stars but raising to 3 because I liked the limited medical examiner details.
Second in a series that needs to be read in order.
Genre - medical mystery, forensics, investigation, murder
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