Traces of Guilt

April 18, 2016
Launching a contemporary series, Henderson (Full Disclosure) introduces Evie Blackwell, a state cop tentatively being considered for a new governor's unsolved crimes task force. Evie begins with two Carin County, Ill., cases: a missing local sheriff's deputy and his family, and the case of a six-year old girl who goes missing while passing through the county on a family vacation. She teams with Gabriel Thane, the current local sheriff, whose father, Caleb, was sheriff at the time the disappearances occurred. With the exception of 10 pages encompassing a tedious interview with the missing family's counselor, Evie and Gabriel move quickly through leads and possibilities, enlisting help from Gabriel's two brothers and Caleb. Henderson's well-developed cast of supporting characters includes a few recognizable names from her previous novels. Romantic possibilities are raised, but Evie seems to be more concerned with overcoming doubts in a man's profession than she is with the man. Henderson treads very lightly in the faith department, keeping the investigations of the cold cases the focus of the story. Leaving as many mysteries in limbo as solved, Henderson ends this story with plenty of fodder for future installments.

June 1, 2016

Delving into cold cases is more intense than Illinois State Police detective Evie Blackwell could have imagined, but surprisingly she enjoys the task as she learns the ropes with Ann, her friend and mentor. Evie arrives in the town of Carin to help probe two unsolved crimes; one involves the disappearance of a little girl and the second concerns an entire missing family, including their horse, truck, and trailer. Henderson's writing is crisp, and the gripping story line will keep readers on edge until the final page. A twisty plot in which nothing is as it seems against the backdrop of a stormy winter is bound to have readers ready for spring. VERDICT RITA and Christy Award winner/nominee Henderson (Taken) starts her new romantic suspense series with a bang. Police procedural aficionados and the author's many readers will be lining up for this one.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
State police detective Evie Blackwell is excited to be in Carin, Illinois, as the new head of a task force dedicated to examining cold cases, especially since her friend and professional mentor, Ann Falcon, has assured her that she will have the cooperation of Sheriff Gabriel Thane. Excited is not, however, exactly the word Gabriel would use to describe his feelings about the task force, since he knows his life and the lives of the residents of Carin are going to be disrupted as Evie looks into two different missing persons cases. Unlike some of RITA and Christy Awardwinner Henderson's previous suspense novels, the first installment in the Evie Blackwell Cold Case series starts off slowly as she establishes her characters and sets the stage. The combination of dogged detective work and clever deductions that leads Evie to solve both cases is, however, bound to please mystery fans, and the hint of attraction between Evie and Gabriel will keep romance readers intrigued enough to see how this relationship develops over the course of the series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)