Cross Her Heart

This was a quick and entertaining listen that made hours on the treadmill much more enjoyable. It is the first book in the Bree Taggert suspense series and immediately I was reminded of Robert Dugoni's popular Tracy Crosswhite series - in the very best way.

Bree Taggert is a Homicide Detective from Philadelphia who drives to upstate New York after getting a call about her estranged sister - only to arrive and find her murdered. This brings up a lot of emotional baggage for Bree who had suffered great loss as a child. Readers get some background on Bree and her family, and we're also introduced to locals like Matt Flynn, who used to work for the sheriff's department in the small town as an investigator and K-9 handler (yes, there is a canine character!)

This is a blend of police procedural and family drama that uses multiple POVs to tell the story (Bree, Matt, and the killer) which has themes of complicated family dynamics, murder, grief and some hinting at future romance to soften things up. I also enjoyed the addition Bree's former police partner Dana and hope she is included in future books. Christina Traister did a great job narrating the story, but my only beef is that the reveal of the killer felt too hasty and would have benefited with a bit more build-up

Bree's character is one I look forward to getting to know better. She's got a good heart but is flawed and has a lot of emotional baggage to deal with. There's a lot of potential for growth and I'm eager to see where Leigh takes this character. 

This is a well-paced police procedural thriller that has a strong but flawed female lead and a story that has good twists, red herrings and edge-of-your-seat action that are balanced with themes of family, grief and dealing with quite a tortured past.

My Rating: 4 stars

Author: Melinda Leigh

Genre: Suspense

Series: #1 in Bree Taggert series

Type and Source: eAudio from Audible.ca

Narrator: Christina Traister

Run Time: 10 hours, 9 min

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

First Published: March 17, 2020

Book Description from GoodReads: A homicide detective’s violent family history repeats itself in #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh’s novel of murder, secrets, and retribution.

For more than twenty-five years, Philadelphia homicide detective Bree Taggert has tucked away the nightmarish childhood memories of her parents’ murder-suicide…Until her younger sister, Erin, is killed in a crime that echoes that tragic night: innocent witnesses and a stormy marriage that ended in gunfire. There’s just one chilling difference. Erin’s husband, Justin, has vanished.

Bree knows how explosive the line between love and hate can be, yet the evidence against her troubled brother-in-law isn’t adding up. Teaming up with Justin’s old friend, former sheriff’s investigator and K-9 handler Matt Flynn, Bree vows to uncover the secrets of her sister’s life and death, as she promised Erin’s children. But as her investigation unfolds, the danger hits close to home. Once again, Bree’s family is caught in a death grip. And this time, it could be fatal for her.