Dark River Rising--A Mystery

June 5, 2017
Baton Rouge, La., homicide detective Wallace Hartman, the heroine of Johns’s uneven debut, is shocked to come across the body of a man with a live snake sewn into his stomach. The discovery of a decent haul of cocaine nearby points to a possible drug hit, and the snake is reminiscent of a certain cartel boss’s calling card, but on U.S. soil? Mason Cunningham, the deputy assistant administrator for intelligence at the DEA, is on his way to Baton Rouge when a match is made on the National Drug Pointer Index between the murder and cartel heavy Fernando Echeverria. Luckily, Wallace and Mason make a pretty good team, but when chemist Matt Gable goes missing, the case takes a strange turn—the killer may be someone very close to home. Wallace and Mason fit the usual molds: she’s funny and tough yet vulnerable, and Mason is smart and handsome, immediately drawing her interest. On top of a familiar plot and two-dimensional supporting characters, an abrupt ending doesn’t help. Agent: Paula Munier, Talcott Notch Literary Agency.

July 1, 2017
A love/hate relationship develops into a working partnership between a Baton Rouge police detective and a Drug Enforcement Administration agent.Wallace Hartman has caught a strange case of homicide: a drug dealer found tortured and dead with a live snake in his belly. Ronnie Overman was a major coke distributor with plenty of enemies, but which of them would kill him in such a bizarre way? Mason Cunningham, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Intelligence at the DEA, rarely leaves his D.C. office, but something about Overman's case draws him to Louisiana to see this one for himself. His best analyst has just suggested that something strange in the local coke trade may lead to a major drug war. Wallace's investigation leads her, via the unusual bags the coke found at the murder scene was packed in, to an agriculture research lab in Bayou Sara. Wallace and Mason, who begin by tiptoeing around their professional and personal relationship, slowly come to trust each other as they investigate. In Bayou Sara they discover that Matt Gable, a scientist at the lab, has vanished. His boss had ordered an unauthorized lab setup destroyed, but Matt's girlfriend, Carla Chapman, packed it up and hid it instead. Frantic over Matt's safety, she tells Wallace and Mason, and they send the equipment off to a lab to be tested. Matt's house has been burned to the ground, and he seems to have taken off after the death of Overman, with whom he had some kind of working relationship. As the detectives struggle to figure out what Matt was doing to arouse so much interest from drug dealers, the evidence points to a shocking development that will require some very creative detective work indeed. Johns' first novel is an exciting police procedural rolled into a romantic thriller that hints of more to come.

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July 1, 2017

Veteran Baton Rouge, LA, homicide detective Wallace Hartman is not enthralled with her professional life. Her partner and mentor is on long-term medical leave and her new case involves a gruesome torture-murder. The criminal-victim was discovered with a live snake sewn into his stomach and a large amount of cocaine present at the scene. Concern about a drug war and familiarity with the style of killing involved brings DEA agent Mason Cunningham into the investigation. Wallace and Mason join forces to make the best use of their federal and local connections. The case becomes more complicated as a killer with a mysterious agenda threatens even greater violence, which may engulf them both. Featuring a fine ensemble cast, this solid debut is strong on atmosphere and tension. VERDICT Readers who enjoy Louisiana settings, tough but sensitive female detectives, and who can handle graphic violence will want more from this author.--ACT

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2017
Johns has managed to assemble a fine thriller out of stock parts. There's the opening with the gruesome murdera 10 on the Richter, it involves a snakethe persistent cop, the questioning colleague, the jerk boss, and, finally, the hostage and the attempt at a last-minute rescue. The victim is a Baton Rouge drug lord pushing the most popular drug since the inception of organized religion. Then federal crime-watchers notice that street prices for the white powder are going down when they should be going up. Police Detective Wallace Hartman thus finds herself with two mysteries to solve; help comes from a surprising place: a DEA agent who turns out to be a nice, smart man and not the turf-mad cliche we're used to. Their interplay as they partner up is refreshing. The key is chemistry, though we could have done without all the natter on isotopes and alkaloids. The fine, tense ending overlays the scary message: soon cokeheads won't need coca leaves, mules, dealers, all that. Just a chemistry set.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)