Patricia Bradley's "Justice Delayed"

Nearly twenty years after Andi Hollister's sister was murdered, a woman comes forward, claiming the man condemned to be executed in a week's time is innocent. However, before she can provide proof, her body is found in an apparent suicide. Unsure now if the real murderer is behind bars, Andi, an investigative reporter, decides to get to the bottom of it, and Detective Will Kincaid, cousin to the condemned man, has a personal stake in seeing justice served to the real murderer. But can they find definitive proof in time?

I enjoyed the fairly unique suspense plot, with the race to save a condemned man. The suspense is much stronger than the mystery, which offers plenty clues if you keep track. And it was fun to imagine flight attendants clad in 90's fashions smuggling diamonds over international borders.

Andi is a fairly typical suspense heroine--the tough non-law-enforcement girl who jumps into danger at the drop of a hat and insists she never needs help. Which she does, in so many areas of her life. But I really liked her best friend Treece, who has a good head on her shoulders, and Maggie, who I would enjoy getting to know better in future books. I do like the struggle Andi goes through as she has to decide if the man she's hated for years for killing her sister is really guilty, or if she's wasted these years hating an innocent man.

I got a little confused several times with getting names mixed up--like roommates Lacey and Laura, and all the J and D names--Jimmy, Jared, JD, David, Delaney, and Donovan. Once I started noticing all the J's, they stuck out all the more, thus one will also find Jillian, James, Jace, Josie, [A] Jerome, and [Larry] Johnson, as well as a Gerald (same sound as a J, anyway), but they're less prominent. It did make the mysterious JD harder to peg, but I'm not convinced having quite SO many similar names was the best choice, even for red herrings.

Not everything was completely wrapped up, particularly regarding Andi's health. This is only the first of the series, so I'm assuming some of those things will be touched on in later books, although the author has tended to switch up main characters, so I guess we'll see. There's a lot of potentially future main characters introduced, so it will be interesting to see who next gets their story told.

Memphis Cold Cases
1. Justice Delayed

Patricia Bradley's "Silence in the Dark"

Shortly after spying an illegal poppy field in cartel territory in Mexico, Bailey Adams is planning on leaving the country to escort a young student to her grandparents' in the States. However, before they can catch their flight, not only does Bailey run into her ex-fiance, Danny Maxwell, but the cartel sets upon them, chasing them through the town. With Danny's help--and the help of strangers--they manage to avoid the cartel, but will the States provide safety? Or will danger follow them home?

Lots of suspense and action in this book! It was fun trying to figure out who was secretly connected to the cartel; there are enough sketchy characters that even though I had a pretty good guess, I couldn't quite be sure until the end. I also like that it built on a previous relationship of Bailey and Danny; it feels a lot more natural that they'd fall in together in escaping the cartel than a brand new relationship would have.

In some ways it seemed like Bailey and Danny didn't have as much of a stake in the book; the focus is more on protecting little Maria than worrying about Bailey's brief glimpse of the illegal poppy field. Then it also felt like Bailey shouldn't have so much authority over Maria's welfare when others around have significantly stronger--even if somewhat controversial--claims to the child. Less responsible people would have walked away and spared themselves some difficulties and trauma.

This book ties in really well with the second of the series, solving some of the mystery left at the end of that one. It has been some time since I read it and the details have gone rather fuzzy, yet I could still follow this one just fine; so I'd say it can be read stand-alone or in the series (series recommended, of course).


Thank you Revell for providing a free book to review; I was not required to make the review positive, and all opinions are my own.

Logan Point
1. Shadows of the Past
2. A Promise to Protect
3. Gone Without a Trace
4. Silence in the Dark 

Patricia Bradley's "Gone Without A Trace"

In the the third Logan Point suspense novel, homicide detective Livy Reynolds has been teetering on the brink of unfit for duty since she shot a teen in the line of duty a couple months earlier. Just when she is forced to take leave from her job, a private investigator from Texas shows up looking for a missing girl--a girl whose disappearance is eerily similar to Livy's cousin Robyn's disappearance a couple years earlier. Given a second shot at finding Robyn, Livy teams up with Alex, in spite of bearing a law enforcer's stereotypical dislike for PI's. But can they find the missing girl--and what happened to Robyn--before it's too late?

I enjoyed that this book is devoted to a mystery that had been introduced in the first book of the series, though it has not been a focus until now. It finally provides closure for all the main characters of the series, as (if I remember the relationships correctly) the missing Robyn is sister-in-law of Taylor (Shadows of the Past), cousin of Ben (A Promise to Protect), and cousin of Livy.

Though Livy and Alex are billed as the main characters, there are other characters with almost as much focus as them. I'm still trying to decide how I feel about that; part of me would have preferred it to be split into two books so each could have their own separate story, but on the other hand, it fit well this way and made sense. Maybe I'm just afraid that this is the last book in the series.

Given that the story takes place in less than two weeks, the romance moves a little fast. And I'm still not sure how the image of the striking hawk actually connected with the villain, but I may have been reading too fast and just missed it. However, the mystery of the villain's identity kept me guessing until the end, and the suspense was intense.

Thank you Revell for providing a free book for review; I was not required to make the review positive, and all opinions are my own.

Logan Point
1. Shadows of the Past
2. A Promise to Protect
3. Gone Without a Trace
4. Silence in the Dark

"A Promise to Protect" by Patricia Bradley - a complex mystery/suspense

In the second Logan Point novel, Sheriff Ben Logan promises a dying man to protect his sister, Dr. Leigh Sommerall - a woman he had fallen in love with back in college, but the romance failed to work out.  Leigh would prefer to avoid Ben at all costs, but with no family left except her son - her parents, grandparents, husband, and brother all dead - she is forced to rely on him for protection, since her brother's killer is after her now too.  But Leigh is harboring a secret that could change Ben's life forever.

Like the book before it, I enjoyed the complexity of the case.  Is there one villain?  Two?  More?  Are all the events connected, or are there multiple vendettas? Bradley is good at dangling potential red herrings for the reader.  The person I suspected most proved innocent (as did my I-really-hope-this-is-not-the-villain runner-up), for which I was kind of glad - I don't want the villain to be too obvious.  And I really appreciate that the villain doesn't waste time with last-minute gloating and confessing!  It makes for a stronger story when the characters don't have to rely on the villain's confession for solving the mystery. 

Given the amount of hurt Ben and Leigh have been carrying around for the past decade, the focus on forgiveness is a good choice; not just for each other, but for family and self.  I enjoyed the return of several characters from book one, including Taylor and her victim-profiling talents.  Hopefully the cop Livy will feature in her own book next . . .  Patricia Bradley writes a solid mystery with a well-played element of suspense.  I look forward to her next book!

Thank you Revell for providing a free book for the purpose of review; I was not required to make it positive, and all opinions are my own.

Logan Point
1. Shadows of the Past
2. A Promise to Protect
3. Gone without a Trace
4.  Silence in the Dark

Patricia Bradley's "Shadows of the Past" - a masterfully plotted mystery

In her debut novel Patricia Bradley writes a mystery-suspense about a psychology professor who also works as a victim/criminal profiler.  Taylor Martin has been digging into the past trying to find out why her father left when she was a child, but a stalker keeps distracting her from her work.  Taylor is pretty sure it is one of her students, Scott Sinclair, but his brother Nick, a novelist, keeps butting heads with her to convince her of his innocence.  While Taylor and Nick try to track down the elusive Scott, danger also keeps following Taylor in her search for her father. 

I liked the author's style of the plot - it reminded me of a big spiral, events loosely connected circling tighter and tighter until they all narrow into a point.  Many different investigations going on, many mysteries at home and at work, but there is a thread that connects them all.  The mystery was very well written - I kept thinking,  ooh, it's this guy - no, it's this guy, - wait, it must be - but it can't be all of them!  Did I figure it out before the very end?  Not really, though I at least placed my suspicions where they belonged!  (Well, along with on some apparently innocent parties . . . )  I did really like how it all came together and who the villain turned out to be.

I thought that Taylor's responses to Nick's overtures were well written, especially in light of her history.  Her dad abandoned her as a child and her fiance left her for another woman, so she understandably has a lot of issues regarding men - both in terms of self-image and trusting men with her heart.  Sometimes it seemed like the relationship was moving a little fast, especially since Nick still feels guilt over his wife's death, but I like where they are at when the book ends. 

While I never root for the villain, I do appreciate a good villain, so I was a little disappointed (as I often am) regarding said person's intelligence in this story.  So often the villain wastes time confessing crimes, proving over and over that a gloating villain is an unsuccessful villain; a smart villain would do the job quickly with minimal interaction and then skip town/go back to daily life, but the moment a speech pours out, the person is done for.  It fit a little better in this story than in others, at least, since Taylor is a psychologist and knows which buttons to push to stall for time; however, I am always a little disappointed when the villain falls for the attempt to stall and Tells All.  Taylor is excellent at her job - I bet she could have figured out the reasons why without a confession. 

Both the suspense and mystery aspects of the book were written well; it can be hard to achieve both in the same book, but Bradley does an excellent job.  I look forward to reading the next in the series!  4.5 out of 5 stars!

Thank you Revell for a free copy for the purpose of review; I was not required to make it positive, and all opinions are my own.

Logan Point
1. Shadows of the Past
2. A Promise to Protect
3. Gone without a Trace 
4. Silence in the Dark