Don't Come Back

“Don’t Come Back” (Book 2 of 2 in the Molly Donovan series) by Tower Lower   255 pages  

I didn’t read Book 1 in this series, and that’s okay, as this is a complete standalone. I have read both book of author Lowe’s Cotton Lee Penn historical mysteries and really enjoyed them. This novel suffers the same problem as those two though. Lowe needs to invest in a good editor; there are so many typos it is almost embarrassing. 

Now that I have that out of my system, let me tell you about what I like the most about all of Lowe’s mysteries. Her protagonists are non-ablest, but that doesn’t stop them. Their disability is like hair or eye color. Important to the reader experience, but not a game-changer. They aren’t written with pity. 

In this novel, the prologue sets up the mystery and creates that “gotta keep reading to find out what happens” feeling.  In the prologue, an elderly Navajo woman is kidnapped. The book’s characters believe she has taken off for a few days with her friend, Eduardo. When Alicia misses her dialysis appointment, which she needs to survive, her daughter calls the sheriff who brings in the FBI. 

The FBI agent, Ray Yazee, is a native of the area with a Navajo father and a white mother. His mother took him away from the area when he was a small child. Ray is curious about his Navajo heritage. He takes the case in the hopes of reconnecting to his roots and to learn the identity of his father. As he gets closer to Santa Fe, New Mexico, Ray begins to hear voices and chanting; he is sure it is the mountains calling him to come home. In one of his dreams, he is told to “find the one-armed Irish woman.” 

Maggie, on the other hand, has problems of her own. Her boyfriend, Miguel, took a three-week trip to Spain to help his cousin battle a drug addiction. But now he’s been gone for three months, and when he does, he brings his “cousin,” Isabella with him.  Cousin, yeah right. 

Ray and Maggie team up to find Alicia and get her to a life-saving dialysis treatment. The suspense is excellent and had me staying up past my bedtime to find out what would happen next.  

Although I complained about the errors earlier, this is really a top-notch suspense thriller. Lots happens in the six days over which the novel is set. Therefore, I’m going to give “Don’t Come Back,” 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

Miss Julia Strikes Back

Miss Julia Strikes Back by Ann B. Ross    339 pages

After a less than stellar seventh outing with Miss Julia Strikes Back, Ann B. Ross continues the tales of the tales of Mrs. Julia Springer, known around Abbottsville simply as Miss Julia, with Miss Julia Strikes Back. This southern magnolia is anything but quiet and demur; she quite feisty for a woman “of a certain age.”

Almost all of Miss Julia’s family has gone out of town. Her new husband Sam is a long-planned trip to Russia. Hazel Marie is vacationing in Mexico. Little Lloyd and Lillian are there to keep her company as well as keep an eye on her. That’s not enough to keep Miss Julia occupied. So she decides to throw a party. She invites her closest friends.  As always, the food and house are impeccable. Upon her guests’ departure, Miss Julia discovers that her wedding rings are missing.  She turns the house upside down and inside out in an effort to find them. Without any luck. Even Hazel Marie’s jewelry is missing. What the heck is going on?

Soon she learns that other women in Abbottsville are also missing their jewels. She needs Mr. Pikens more than ever, and while he’s also “out-of-town,” everyone knows he’s in Mexico with Hazel Marie. That leave Sergeant Coleman Bates to learn what happened. Fat chance of anything happening with him in charge.

Coleman moves much too slow for Miss Julia. Her investigation uncovers that a professional jewelry ring has been operating all over the county. Soon, she and Little Lloyd have tailed the thieves to Palm Beach and head down there to get her rings back. And hopefully some of others’ missing jewelry.

 Ross scores again with Miss Julia Strikes Back. While not as funny and a tad over the top as the first six books in the series, I’m glad to see her back in all her feistiness. Miss Julia Strikes Back gets 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Cold Blooded

Cold Blooded by Lisa Regan  310 pages

I was first introduced to Lisa Regan’s work when I read Finding Claire Fletcher. Tautly written---except of the last couple of chapters---it was one of the best-rounded kidnapping stories that I have read in recent years.

Regan stays within the same mystery/suspense/thriller genre, but this time the story revolves around a terminally ill former detective, Augustus Knox, and a cold case. The story is set in 2014 with the murder of Sydney Adam, high school track star, occurred in 2002.

Knox is a drunk, the unresolved murder of Sydney has haunted---and ruined---him. I’m not sure why, but I pictured him as a rather obese man, but the description of his jaundice and thin, frail frame just didn’t jive with me. Maybe if it was brought up earlier. Now Knox has congestive heart failure and COPD. His doctor believes he will be dead in three to four months, but he isn’t ready to give up entirely. He is bound and determined to find Sydney’s killer.

He enlists the help of the private detective Jocelyn Rush and her partner Anita. Rush. Jocelyn has a whole set of her own problems and is scarred individual, physically, mentally, and emotionally. But she’s still a good detective.

Now it’s up to the three of them to determine if the person of interest all those years ago can finally be brought to justice. There are some interesting twists as Jocelyn, Anita, and Know draw closer to the truth…which was shocking. Cold Blooded is a good read; I give it 4 out of 5 stars.