WOW, i loved it. I like the characters and kept hoping things would "work out" in the back story. I thought I knew the culprit but I had got that wrong too. There is lots doing on in this book so you are constantly on your toes and I couldnt put it down. I have read books by this author before and I knew I wouldnt be dissappointed.

This is the first Karen Rose novel i have read. I think the blurb promoted it as a romantic thriller and i was not too sure what too expect. The “romance” between the two main characters Detective Kit Mckittrick and Dr Sam the psychologist felt like it had been written for teenagers with strong emotions being mentioned but nothing ever happening and everyone trying to get them become an item..
Slightly more irritating was the sugar coated picture of the too good to be true foster parents Betsy and Harlan and i found myself fast forwarding through some of the extended family gatherings as i realised they had nothing to do with the story and were just too cheesy.
However underlying this was a reasonable murder mystery set in a retirement home with a quite complex plot that i thought was quite believable.. The plucky characters from the home were what we have now come to expect from Cosy Crime novels.
I was interested to keep reading to discover the identity of the murderer and got to the end of the book despite my aforementioned dislikes. It is a hard book to rate but i think thay my dislikes outweigh my likes.
Thanks to NetGalley and Headlines for the ARC.

Detective Kit McKittrick and her partner Detective Connor Robinson of San Diego PD Homicide Division, are called in to investigate a murder at a local retirement community. The victim is a retired antiques dealer who moved into the apartment with his husband some years before. The husband, Ryan, had died five years ago and since that time Frankie had very much kept himself to himself, with few close friends in the building. Only those nearest to him knew that Frankie had a past that he didn’t talk about.

The second book in the series but ok as a standalone. All repeated references made to a previous case were annoying, but not too off putting.

Kit is a strange character, maybe she grows on you? Definitely she has no qualms about bringing up her tragic past when it suits her, but seems unwilling to move on. The relationship she has with Dr Sam Reeves is odd, perhaps that’s explained in book one. Dr Sam is far too good to be true, so much so that I think he’s a little “off”. Don’t think the author meant for the character to give off those vibes! And Kit’s adoptive parents Harlan and Betsy will definitely each receive a sainthood.

Not sure I would bother with any further books in the series and I have no desire to read the first book. Just didn’t get to grips with the characters or the plot. Too repetitive, and everything that happens is a result of six months ago (they solved a murder six months ago, don’t cha know).

Very slow for a crime read, needs a tighter edit.

Thank you NetGalley and Headline.

Once again, Karen Rose has pulled another stonker out of the bag! Yet another fantastic read, continuing the story of Kit. This was an intriguing storyline, involving theft and murder at a retirement community. The theft side of things is probably not far from actually happening in real life unfortunately which made things all the more believable.

Can´t wait for the next installment to see what happens with Kit and Dr. Sam!

Highly recommend for an enjoyable, easy but engrossing read.

My thanks to NetGalley and Headline for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy in return for an honest review.

I mostly enjoyed this book but at times it definitely felt a little too drawn out for me. I did like the characters, I mean who doesn’t like a kick ass cop and elderly people? However the book was definitely missing the romance aspect that it’d promised.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book.
I do love Karen Rose books and those that feature Kit and her family and this book was no exception. It did however get very repetitive in places which was to it’s detriment. The occupants of the care home were absolutely lovely and Georgia was very feisty. Hope I’m like her at that age! So nice that Kit and Sam seem to have sorted out their problems, down to Sam’s gentle ways. Look forward to more of the same.

A retirement centre is not really a place where you expect to find dead bodies. Or, at least, not ones dead from anything other than natural causes!

So when Kit McKittrick finds Frank Flynn's stabbed corpse at the Shady Oaks senior centre, she has to wonder whether his background in law enforcement has anything to do with his murder. But in order to find out, Kit will need to approach someone she has been avoiding aka the rather delightful Dr Sam Reeves...

This book had also had some interesting twists, but the ending could have been better and it probably would have benefited from tighter editing. I did liked the characters though, not just Kit and Sam, but also supporting characters like Georgia. And some of the dialogue was very engaging.

I really enjoyed the book, I liked the characters and felt invested in the story.
I had an issue with the ending; there was a very long ‘Scooby Doo’ moment where the whole explanation and timeline was set out, but it had already explained to us what had happened. I took longer to read that than the rest of the book.

Another amazingly written book from Karen Rose! Read in almost two sittings, just couldn’t put it down!

Had to love Georgia and Eloise, the little remarks from each woman had me giggling out load.

Am super excited about Kit and Sam!

Was so glad that Sharon explained everything to Gerald, eventually, I hate when families are estranged due to secrets.

Fantastic work again!!

Oh dear what's happened with Karen Rose?! I'm a HUGE fan and have been right from the start and whilst this wasn't awful, it really wasn't up to her usual par. I'm sorry but what an absolute bore is she making of her main male characters (especially the last two books). Unfortunately, its going to be a begrudging 3 stars from me.

I’ve heard great things about Karen Rose and couldn’t wait to try her books. Unfortunately, I did not pick the right book for me as I couldn’t connect with the characters and I couldn’t get gripped into the story. It was not my cup of tea. I had to dnf the book.

This book made me smile in places, while bringing tears to my eyes in others. I didn't guess all the twists, but I did figure out who one person responsible was, but if I say any more about that I might give it away! It gives enough background that I reckon it can be read as a standalone book. The characters are a mixture, but are portrayed so well they felt like real people. I enjoyed this book and want to read the next.

I adore Kit & Sam, so glad he featured as much in this book as the last. I also wanted to be adopted by Kit's family!
This was a really gripping story line and I loved all the additional beloved characters in Kit's world - she has surrounded herself with the best kind of people! Can't wait for the next installment!

This book should be made into a tv show immediately. From the moment I met Kit on the page, I was hooked! The story is a great thriller (no spoilers here), a death in an old folks home just isn’t what it seems and is a LOT bigger than just one death, soon more follow. The characters grab you from the start and you can visualise and hear them perfectly. There are references to a book before this but it doesn’t make a difference if you haven’t read it (I hadn’t), apart from that you want too asap!
Someone get Karen Rose a tv contract and I hope a third book follows soon.

Karen Rose never goes wrong! Another excellent read with everything you could possibly want. Kit is a great character and this story was very gripping as always.

I am a big fan of Karen Rose as an author and it's rare for me not to give her books 4 or 5 stars. Cheater is a 3 star read for me.

Did I enjoy this read - yes. But at times it felt a little too long and it didn't wow me like some of her previous books have. I really like Kit and her partner Connor, I like their working rapport and growing friendship. Sam, in my opinion, is too nice and too good. I wish there was something I disliked about him but there isn't. As a character the only way I can describe him is 'bland'. I love Kits family and their interactions with each other. I think the story is good and the plot line well thought out and I've always liked the format this authors books follow in that the story is told over a short period of time. I struggled with the plot being centred around an elderly care facility - so for me, the writing lacked the darkness, grittiness and suspense I've come to expect from Karen Rose. I miss having a character that I truly hate with a passion. There are a lot of threads that did hold my interest although this was not the page turning read I hoped for. I normally race through Karen Rose books but not this one. I wouldn't describe this book as a 'romantic suspense' either, the romance element was barely there. Maybe the next book will pick up on that more. In my opinion this is a good, OK read just not one of my best Karen Rose reads - The Edge of Darkness still remains my all time favourite.

Even though Cheater didn't quite hit the mark with me I'd recommend it if you like books with a crime and suspense element and I'll probably want to read the next book to see how Kit's character develops.

Kit McMittrick is one of my favourite characters, flawed, outwardly tough but inwardly wanting to love and be loved. She’s an intense character, ideal for a police detective, and has a dog I’d love to own. I liked the main setting for this book, a retirement centre. People think that because you’re old, you haven’t had a life, how wrong they can be. As always with this author, it was a well written, nicely paced read, with plots twists and turns galore. Just when you thought you’d got a handle on who the murderer was, they became a victim. I was glad that the focus was on the murder investigation rather than a potential romance. A really enjoyable read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is not one of Karen Roses strongest works. Having read all of her novels I was expecting to lose hours at a time by the plot/characters just trying to find out what was happening. This was not the case. Richard Osman has brought attention to the world of old peoples homes, but through experience with his mother. This nearly feels like it jumping on the bandwagon because we now realise that these homes can be full of life too and therefore full of potential for story lines. Not a bad thing but for me Osman has done it better with more characters who are better rounded.
The will they/won't they of Kit and Sam made a refreshing change, however, from the normal love scenes in Karen's other novels. It is almost expected now that at least one 'love' scene will happen at one time in the novel.
The plot moved along quite nicely if not a bit confusing at times. I did enjoy 'Cheater' but I would recommend starting with another series if this is to be your first read of a Karen Rose novel.
Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC>

This was a miss for me.

There was very little romance. Which is fine, but the mystery wasn’t particularly strong on it’s own and this is marketed as more of a romance so that was disappointing. I know I haven’t read the earlier books in this series so perhaps that factors in here, but there was no chemistry here between FMC and the MMC?! I get they’re meant to have past history and so that’s why they’re so awkward but it’s pretty hard to buy into a romance when there’s just nothing going on with them?!

It didn’t sit well with me how our FMC threw around her past trauma whenever it suited her. This really, really bugged me and it happened several times. It felt like whenever she needed to manipulate someone to do what she wanted she would exploit her past trauma and just throw it around as if to say ‘see I understand so now you have to believe me’. From my experience of working with people who have experienced trauma, it’s not something they’re going to start shoving in people’s faced multiple times a day in a professional setting and the author’s decision to allow the FMC to manipulate others and exploit this past experience felt really uncomfortable. I didn’t think our FMC was particularly likeable even before this but after she did this several times I really wasn’t into it.

Again, the constant emphasis that Betsy and Harlan are saints for being foster carers and can work miracles with children and young people in their care did not sit well with me at all. The whole writing around foster care, adoption and everything to do with it did not feel like an accurate portrayal of how any of this works and I found myself rolling my eyes repeatedly here.

The plot was also a bit convoluted so it lost my interest. I don’t mind a complex plot - in fact I love a plot with layers and twists and turns. But the way this one played out there was just no way you could predict the ending so it all felt a bit flat.

Overall it was corny, predictable and a bit boring. Not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC

This was my first read by Karen Rose & it absolutely did not disappoint!
Phenomenal twists & turns and such a lovely ending!
Fantastic!