Riley is an artist who gets together with an artists group where they draw scenes from their city. But a woman is murdered, and then another, and its Riley's drawings of the scene that are found on the victim. Claire is a detective assigned to the case, and she balances her curiosity and drive to solve the case, with her increasing attraction towards Riley. Is Riley involved in the murder more than she is letting on or can the two women explore their blossoming feelings?

Taite is always a master at procedural drama and the fast paced nature of this book reminded me a lot of Leading the Witness which was excellent. I didn't connect to Riley's character which unfortunately took me out of the book a lot and didn't let me make the same connection to the relationship. I really did loved Claire's character, her approach to life and the case, and this kept me going. Overall I really enjoyed the mystery side of the story and as always the way Taite writes, even if I didn't connect to the romance as much in this book.


I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars. Artist Riley Flynn draws the street of Dallas, but when dead bodies start to appear at the places she last drew. Detective Claire Hanlon is investigating the murders and can't help but be drawn to Riley. Riley is a suspect for the murders of the dead women, especially since her father was falsely convicted of murder many years ago. Claire cannot help but try to send time with Riley and see if she is really as guilty as she says she is. Riley just wants to prove she had nothing to do with the murders and maybe wants to get to know the interesting Detective investigating her case.

This book was okay. I felt like their relationship evolved a little quick. The murder was interesting and I found myself wondering who committed them and how it was going to end, I gave this book 3 stars since I did not particularly like how the romance evolved throughout the novel and really wish I could feel the characters development a little bit more. Not sure I would recommend.

Carsen Taite is one of my auto-buy authors. I've read almost all her books. This book features a cop and artist pairing. Riley is an emerging artist who meets with a drawing group. She's also dealing with her recently-released from prison father. He was convicted of killing a young woman he was having an affair with 15 years ago. However, new evidence has emerged that potentially exonerates him. Claire came into the picture when a young woman was found strangled near the mural Riley and her group was working on. Then, 2 more bodies show up, both near locations Riley's been at. Claire and her partner are under pressure to catch the killer. They're also being pushed to investigate Riley and her father, since the crime mirrored the murder Riley's father was convicted for. I really like the flow of the story. Both characters are complex women who are trying to do the best they can with what life has given them. I find myself rooting for them to get their HEA.

**Thank you to Bold Strokes Books for giving an ARC in exchange for honest review!**

I could hardly wait to read this one. Carsen Taite knows how to write a crime-romance. And I really appreciate how the crime is the focal point of the story and not the romance.

Riley is an urban artist with a difficult family history. Her father was arrested for killing his TA/lover, which he has always denied and after 15 years in prison he might be declared innocent after all. When dead bodies start to show up at sights where Riley's artist group meets she becomes one of the suspects in Detective Claire's investigation. When the two characters see each other for the first time across the room there is an interest, but when they learn more about each other it goes away but also intensifies the interest. Because of Riley's past and Claire's mentor being the one who put Riley's dad away they find themselves in an awkward split.
The investigation is really good and well-paced, but I did have some issues with some of the writing. Taite doesn't want you to miss a moment of either of the mains, but it is something that confuses me. So let's say one main is at home doing her thing and the other shows up at the door. The next chapter will about what the other did before she got to the door before moving on in the story. Once I got used to it it was ok, but not my favourite style.

I also think the book would have benefitted from a couple more chapters. The happy ending and the resolution to some parts of the story are rather rushed, they deserved a couple more pages. Overall it is a good book and a real page turner, but it has some minor issues.

A good solid mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end. The characters are very interesting and you can't imagine any of them as a killer.
The two main characters are attractive, intelligent and immediately attracted to each other. But Ms.Taite takes her time with many flirtatious meetings and the pace of the romance seems very real.
The ending is very exciting and your reading pace will definitely pick up.
My only complaint is I wanted one more chapter involving Claire and Riley's new life together. After all that slow burn I wanted too see them together more.

I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read just about everything written by Ms Taite and can honestly say I've enjoyed them all but this book surpasses everything she’s written in the last few years.
Detective Claire Hanlon has always wanted to be a cop like her father but while he was always content being in the field, Claire was working for the promotions. She was good at her job and it helped that she got to work with her friend and partner Nick. She had a good childhood and still remains close to her family. But when someone decided to murder, it became their job to bring the killer in. Relationships were something she never seemed to find time for because she mainly focuses on her job. Now there’s another murder and her and Nick are given the job of finding him and putting a end to the killings.
Riley Flynn makes her living by being an urban artist, painting buildings and structures around the city. She is waiting for her big break and she thinks she has finally found it. Lacy Lofton wants to feature Riley's work in her gallery. Riley has no desire in having a relationship, a few nights with a different woman works just fine for her. Her childhood was nice, she was close to her father and mother but that all changed when it came to light that her father was having an affair with a younger woman he was accused of killing. So at the age of 15 Claire got to see her father given a long sentence and going to prison. From that moment on life as she knew it came to an end.
Now her father is out of prison due to some new evidence but again he’s being looked at for the murders of several women but this time Riley is mixed up in the case too. Her group of urban painters go around the city painting various sites and the murdered victims are being left at some of the sites Riley has painted. Now Claire and Nick were in charge of bringing the killer in and to them it seems that Riley could hold the key that will lead to another conviction and put Riley's father Frank back in prison where some think he still belongs.
Ms Taite has done a great job pulling all the pieces of this puzzle together, making this one of my all time favorites. Simply put, a great read.
ARC via NetGalley/ Bold Stroke Books

Not a great or horrible read.

A mystery with lesbian romance

The main plot of the book was unremarkable. An inspector is sent to a crime scene with a strangled victim. She must find the murderer before they strike again. The key piece of evidence found at each crime scenes is the most intriguing part of this story.

The chemistry between the two protagonists was only surface level. The characters' interactions were short and felt forced.

My biggest issue with the book revolved around the character Claire. She is a rising star in the police department, because she honest, excels at gathering evidence and interrogating suspects. All of the characteristics/traits that make her an outstanding cop are thrown out the window once she meets Riley. The book goes downhill from here, because Claire continues to do unethical and questionable actions that seem out of character. Blame it on love? Maybe if the chemistry between Claire and Riley was more believable.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A nice whodunit from the queen of legal thrillers. I really liked this couple, and from the too-short length of the story, I hope we get more! The mystery kept me second guessing the entire time.

I love reading books about art and cops of course. In this case add mystery of serial killer and it makes wonderful read. I love the insrant attraction. Both characters were made for each other. As the main attraction at the bar was a jump start, I feel like the case was the glue. I wouldn't mind reading more about both.
Great read.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review of the story.

I highly recommend Carson Taite's books. She writes about vivid, strong women you would like to be friends with.

Drawn is a fast paced mystery reminiscent of Katherine Forrest's Kate Delafield detective series..

Claire is a no nonsense detective - proud of her work and ambirious.

Riley is an up and coming artist on the way to her first one woman show.

They have passion, dedication and ambition in common but that may not be enough to bring these two together.

Young women are being murdered - in a style that echoes a decades old murder that Riley's father has been convicted for.

Will Claire find the murderer before her chance at happiness with Riley is swept away by someone's obsession and someone's revenge?

The plot of Drawn was fascinating, and caught my attention from the beginning. We get an urban artist, Riley, who turns to be a person of interest in murders, as they happened to be where she was drawing before.
A twisting book with an unknown killer and rising love story. It was a nice and fast read, the two main characters, Riley and Claire were well written and likable for the readers, their relationship was slowly growing from mutual suspicion into love. I liked in this novel how the writer entangled the crime with the romance, and with that way this book is a perfect read both for detective book and romance genre lovers.

This was another highly interesting read from Carsen Taite. I found both Riley and Claire to be well written and likable characters. Riley, an urban artist became a suspect in a case Claire was working. I found the mystery aspect to be engaging but it quickly because apparent who the real murderer was and I'm totally okay with that. Overall I found this book to be well worth my time and I'm sure others will too!

Sometimes I like to switch things up and read a good romance/mystery. I found Drawn to be a good read. It had some good twist and turns and even I kept guessing until the end as to who was the murderer.

Riley Flynn is an up and coming artist. She spends most of her time painting and teaching. She also meets a couple of times a month with a sketching group she is a member of. Things go haywire when bodies start turning up at the same locations she has painted with her art group. Detective Claire Hanlon is the police officer assigned to solve these murders. It is easy to think that Riley could be a suspect especially since her father was once jailed for murder.

For the most part, I enjoyed the mystery aspect of Drawn. I liked trying to solve the murder as I read this one. I had narrowed it down to a few people, but ultimately it was mostly a surprise of who was responsible and why. The romance part of these wasn't my favorite. The two mains were for sure attracted to one another, but I didn't really find that there was a love connection. I found myself wanting them to spend more time together and really get to know one another. This leads me to say that the ending came too soon because of this.

Anyway, I overall thought it was a good read. 3.75 stars

I think Carsten Taite is back on form! This was a good read - well written, engaging characters and a clever plot. The main characters were likeable, credible and acted the way we’d expect. I dislike stories where you find yourself thinking "she wouldn’t do that". Ms Taite won’t let you down.

Riley is an urban artist who paints around the streets of Dallas. She is preparing for her first show. Claire is a detective with ambitions. She needs to catch the killer terrorising young women before they claim another victim. The twist is that Riley might be the killer or is at least connected in some way.

Add in a sub story with Riley's parents and a reconnection to some old friends and the combination of romance and intrigue will keep you turning pages. This is an excellent read and a nice way to lose yourself for a few hours. Recommended.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

After reading several of Carsen Taite’s novels, I’ve learned that you can always count on her to write stories that will captivate the reader’s interest and keep them reading until the very end. Whether she is writing from the perspective of the lawyers or the police, her mystery and romance novels will definitely entertain. That is especially true with her newest novel, Drawn.

This book is a police procedural about a young artist (Riley Flynn) who finds herself part of a murder investigation when the killer begins leaving their murder victims at the sites where Riley has been sketching. The police even wonder if Riley may be the killer. This causes problems for Detective Claire Hanlon who is assigned the case. Unfortunately, she may end up having to arrest the woman for murder she has become very attracted to.

This is a really exciting mystery and intrigue novel. Ms. Taite kept me wondering who the murderer was until almost the very end of the story. There were so many possibilities and suspects, I really never figured out who it was until the end. This is also a character driven tale, and boy, are these characters well drawn. (See what I did there?) The romance is an enemies-to-lovers as well as a slow-burn romance with just the right amount of angst to make things interesting between the two main characters.

I have only one slight complaint about the story. I wish it had been just a little bit longer. The ending felt a bit rushed, and there were a couple of questions about one or two minor characters I would have liked answered that weren’t. Other than that, I believe this is a wonderful tale and recommend it to everyone.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.


Riley is artist who just landed a deal at one of the ones sought out gallery in Dallas. Her world turn upside down when she becomes a person of interest in a serial case.

Detective Claire and her partner Nick are push to their limits as they tried to solve the serial case. As they investigate Riley while looking for other suspects they learn of Riley father Frank and wonder if he involve. Claire and Riley are also struggling with their attraction towards each other.

I like the dynamic between Claire and Nick how they both talk through everything to make they were on same path. Like the underlying chemistry between Riley and Claire every time they were in a room. This was a good mystery with romance and I like that it was subtle and didn’t shadow the plot. I love these types of stories because I can totally see this on screen.

Carsen Taite's latest novel, take us back to Dallas and drops us write in the middle of a murder mystery with a heaping dash of romance. Taite excels at writing this type of novel, she drew me in and give me a ton of anxiety. I was reading feverishly to find out how the damned killer was.

Riley Flynn is an up and coming artist who just landed a deal with a highly sought after Dallas art gallery. This is the big break she has been working for. On the flip side, life is throwing more at her than she needs right now. She needs to focus on her art, not deal with her father, and the bucket loads of drama that him being back entails. Frank Flynn, Riley's dad was convicted of a brutal murder fifteen years ago. Frank has been released from prison because new information and DNA samples have shed new life on his case. He has always proclaimed his innocence, but that does not erase the terrible years that Riley has had to endure because of his trial. Upon his release and weeks from her gallery show, a murder near Riley's neighborhood in Dallas have made both Frank and Riley suspects.

Claire Hanlon is the lead homicide detective on the murder of a young woman who has been strangled and left with an urban art sketch in her suit pocket. There is a lot of heat on her to wrap this case up as fast as possible. The higher-ups want a Flynn to be brought in, but Riley knows that this will just create a media frenzy. Claire is not convinced Riley or her dad had anything to do with this heinous crime. She just can't prove it yet, and the pressure to wrap it up quickly and her attraction to Riley is not helping matters at all.

The story leading up to finding out who the killer is is really good. You have a detailed story with shifting POV and it draws you in. You have multiple layers of the plot that give the story depth and really engage you, the reader. My only complaint is the story is too short. We needed more, to wrap up the ending and we needed more one on one with the mains. The romance felt like a side note, and while I got lust. I didn't get true love. I needed Taite to show me more than the attraction between Riley and Claire. A few more chapters would have made this book go from good to great. Even with all that said, this is a book well worth your time.

I have read a few Carsen Taite books and she is definitely an author I enjoy reading. This was a fun read and a bit too easy. What I mean by that is the story was very straight forward and for a murder mystery just seemed too easy. The plot was a good one: a murder is going around killing women in their early 20s and leaving them at historic/well known sites in Texas (I think it was Texas). The killer's calling card, a sketch of the location the victim is found. And it was but it never went that extra step. The "ah-ha" moment was more like "oh, ok." I think it felt this way because everything happened so fast and things did not develop enough. The relationship between father and daughter, cop and suspect, lover and lover (had to be parallel) was just there and nothing was really drawn out enough to really get a feel for them. Maybe it's just me, maybe I tend to want books that are longer and with more meat to them.
This was not a bad read. Far from it actually. But, I do feel a little bit cheated about the what happened after, and a little cheated on the development. I give this 3.5 stars.

I enjoyed this book far more than I expected to. I burned through it in only two sittings and when I was finished, I sort of blinked and thought, 'Already?'

I liked the artist-angle, it's not one we see in lesfic very often. The bad guy surprised me, somehow I didn't expect it to be...who it was. *evil grin* You didn't expect me to give it away, now did you?
There were a couple of layers to this story that I found as engaging as the main plot-line, which always keeps me turning pages. I appreciate when an author can grip a reader with not just one layer, but two.
The cover is great too, very eye-catching and vivid. The editing was thorough, the characters fe
lt real and sufficiently weighed down by just as much baggage as any of us carry, and overall, I'm very glad BSB granted me an ARC in exchange for my honest gushing of this book.

This one is a winner!

Riley Flynn is an urban artist on the verge of her first show at a prestigious Dallas gallery, when she becomes a person of interest in a murder investigation. The detectives in charge get even more interested in her when they find out her father is no other than Frank Flynn, who was recently released from jail after serving time for a murder he always swore he didn’t commit. Detective Claire Hanlon’s fascination in Riley isn’t purely professional, however, and the attraction is mutual.

There’s everything I like in Carsen Taite‘s books in this one too but there’s not enough of it. She’s a great crime writer, a perfect example of write what you know, and I always look forward to her court scenes and lawyers in action. There are a few of these in Drawn but so few that it’s frustrating. I want more of Morgan Bradley and Parker Casey (whom we first met in the excellent It Should Be a Crime and have come across a few times since in other novels), or any other smart and brilliant lawyers. Taite is also really good at romance, but besides meaningful looks, the chemistry didn’t really have time to blossom. It works, it’s plausible, but the narrative stays a tad too much on the surface for me.

The best parts are Riley’s ambiguous relationship with her father and his responsibility in what the family went through, and the mystery itself. There are just enough red herrings to make the discovery of the murderer and their motive mostly unexpected.

Even though I wish this novel was a bit longer, I really enjoyed it (which is also why I wish it was longer), it’s fast-paced and exciting and I liked the characters a lot, including Claire’s partner and Lacy Lofton, the owner of the gallery, whom I’d love to see have her own book…

I received a copy from the publisher and I am voluntarily leaving a review.