I somehow didn’t realize at first that this was the third in a series, but the author did a great job interspersing details from the first two novels. Interesting premise, great characters, and I am looking forward to reading the first books in the series.

5 stars

I read the Kindle edition.

Sheriff Hank Worth stops a car full of teenagers going twenty-five miles over the speed limit. He lectures them, gives a stern warning and tells them to go straight home.

Minutes later, he is called to the scene of an accident. It is the same car and all six teens are dead. Hank now doubts his judgment. Should he have let them go? Is this his fault? He begins to work the scene before his chief deputy Sheila shows up. More deputies arrive at the scene and then the troopers from the Missouri Highway Patrol’s Major Crash team are next. One of the investigators named Jenkins is a real pain in the behind, while the other called DeRosia is kind. They work the scene.

Sheila and Jenkins and DeRosia and Hank begin to notify the relatives. They get predictable teary responses and a couple of surprises along the way. At the last home that they visit, Hank and DeRosia find a man dead of stab wounds. He was about twenty-five. Now they have a murder on their hands.

They discover from the manager of the apartment complex that the dead man was supposed to be one Johnny Gall who rented the place – but it wasn’t. The manager said he did not know the dead man. Johnny Gall was one of the teens killed in the accident. What in the heck was going on?

A teenage girl is in critical condition. Is it connected to the accident? Does she know something? When she finally regains consciousness, she tells them a story about being chased in the woods and falling down a hill. She was close friends with one of the car accident girls.

The police are still trying to identify the teen who called himself Johnny Gall. It is proving to be very problematic. And who is the stabbing victim in the apartment?

Good, solid, determined police work solves the case in the end. Following an exciting car chase, Hank, Sheila and the other officers get their answers.

This book is very well written and plotted. One event follows another in a logical progression. I liked Hank and his wife’s relationship. There was sufficient background information given on all of the main characters so as to flesh them out a bit, but not so much that it detracted from the story line at all. I liked that the officers – for the most part – got along well and worked with one another. I enjoyed Sheila’s spunkiness and drive. This is my first Hank Worth novel, but it won’t be my last. I immediately went to Amazon to look for others of Ms. Booth’s novels.

I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House for forwarding to me a copy of this great book for me to read, enjoy and review.