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New Release Review! TRACKS OF HER TEARS by Melinda Leigh (Rouge Winter #1)

TRACKS OF HER TEARS
(Rouge Winter #1)
by Melinda Leigh

 

Synopsis:

In the first thrilling Rogue Winter Novella, sleepy little Solitude, Oregon, wakes up to another deadly threat.

County investigator Seth Harding intends to spend the holidays with his newly reconciled family, but a few days before Christmas, a homicide thwarts his plan. Seth arrives at the scene and makes a painful discovery: the victim is his brother-in-law’s girlfriend. Her apartment has been ransacked and her toddler left motherless. To make matters worse, Seth’s brother-in-law, Bruce, is missing. With Solitude locked in a rare, deadly deep freeze and the temperature plummeting, the residents launch a desperate search.

Seth calls his wife, social worker Carly Taylor, to take the case so the little girl doesn’t get lost in the foster care system. With the holidays near, Carly brings the child home with them to celebrate Christmas. But when the Taylor farm is also trashed, Seth and Carly must race against time—and against a paralyzing winter storm—to find Bruce and catch a killer in the first pulse-pounding sequel to the Rogue River Novellas.

Review:

Tracks of Her Tears is the first novella in a new series, but it is about characters established in a previous one by Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliott–the Rouge River series. I haven’t read that one (yet–all four books have been added to my TBR!), but I didn’t feel at all lost as I read this one. Somehow Seth and Carly almost managed to feel like old friends even though I hadn’t read either of their previous books (Ms. Leigh’s books focus on them, and Ms. Elliott’s center on Carly’s sister Stevie and Zane, the new police chief). Since this book sets off a new overarching plot arc set in Solitude, Oregon, it’s the perfect place to start.

Tracks of Her Tears was a quick, suspenseful read–reading it was very much like reading an episode of a favorite crime show, and I didn’t have to feel too guilty about taking time out of my weekend of schoolwork to polish it off. (Thank goodness for Thanksgiving break–it definitely cannot come too soon.) I immediately felt caught up in Seth and Carly’s lives as they adjusted to their reconciliation and raced against time and an incoming snowstorm to find Carly’s brother Bruce and figure out who had killed his girlfriend.

Thanksgiving break goals–get caught up on schoolwork and squeeze in book two in the series, Dead in Her Tracks

Rating: 4 stars / B+

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

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