My favorite read in the mystery category this week was mentioned several days ago but here it is again. My favorite writing aspect is show rather than tell and Susan Sleeman nails it.

Show means enough to me that I keep a list to avoid authors I know favor tell. I guess that means I’m becoming a book snob. A few using tell do sneak in from time to time. Mainly because the first couple of pages look good, it’s further into the story when things begin to slide south.

Dead Ringer: (Truth Seekers Book 1) 

She was hiding from her past…
When a local woman goes missing and Sheriff Blake Jenkins delivers her blood sample to DNA expert Emory Steele for analysis, Blake discovers Emory is a dead ringer for the missing woman. Blake’s gut says the woman is related to Emory. But Emory rejects the notion, requiring a DNA test before she’ll concede that she does indeed have a twin sister she never knew about.

Now she’ll do anything to see it come to light.
Emory joins Blake in a search for her missing sister, but when an attempt is made to abduct Emory as well, they begin to think the abduction is related to Emory’s birth parents. Blake vows to keep her under his watch until they discover what this maniac is looking for and bring him to justice. But Emory balks at him wanting to keep her under constant surveillance as she’s struggling to come to grips with a former brutal attack, and she wants nothing to do with a man who might want to get close to her. When it becomes clear that Blake is the only one who can keep her safe, will she let him get close enough to do so?

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The next two I enjoyed, just not as much as Dead Ringer. On the plus side, I enjoyed Dead Man’s Watch more than expected

Dead Man’s Watch (The Watch Series Book 2) 

Half-sisters Kathryn Frasier and Cece Goldman stumble into another mystery in this second book in the Watch series. When a former acquaintance of Kathryn’s is accused of murder, she and Cece go on a mission to prove his innocence by finding the real killer. But things are never what they seem in this tangled web, and Kathryn’s spunky determination to solve the mystery pushes her closer and closer to a deadly climax.

• 

• 

The Elevator was my third favorite.

In the path of a devastating hurricane, three very different women find themselves trapped in the elevator of a high-rise office building. All three conceal shattering secrets—unaware that their secrets center on the same man.

The betrayed wife, eager to confront her faithless husband, with rage in her heart and a gun in her pocket…

The determined mistress, finally ready to tell her lover she wants marriage and a family…

The fugitive cleaning woman, tormented by the darkest secret of all…

The back and fourth between characters and timelines was challenging to follow. Movement was slow in spots too, which made the story drag more than I would like. It was a worthwhile read though.

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Last but not least, this was an enjoyable read too. Actually, it should have been first.

I forgot. I gave this one five stars and I don`t do that very often.

Light the Dark: A Carolina Moon Christmas Novella

Nine months pregnant, Hope Solomon is on the run and fearing for her life. Desperate for warmth, food, and shelter, she finds what looks like an abandoned house. Inside, she discovers a Christmas that’s been left behind—complete with faded decorations on a brittle Christmas tree and dusty stockings filled with loss.

Someone spies smoke coming from the chimney of the empty house and alerts Dr. Luke Griffin, the owner. He rarely visits the home that harbors so many bittersweet memories for him. But no one is going to violate the space so near and dear to his heart.

Then Luke meets Hope, and he knows this mother-to-be desperately needs help. With no room at any local inn, Luke invites Hope to stay, unaware of the danger following her. While running from the darkness, the embers of Christmas present are stirred with an unexpected birth and a holiday romance. But will Hope and Luke live to see a Christmas future?

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The next sharing will be back to romance.

That`s my current read, historical romance.

A Mountain Christmas Romance (Wyoming Mountain Tales Book 4) 

Stripped of the family so important to his Viking heritage, Matthias Bjork is now on the hunt for his sister. Despite combing the entire Wyoming Territory, he hasn’t found any substantial leads regarding his sister’s whereabouts, but he has discovered a most unusual woman. This woodland nymph who’s come to work for his good friend in the quiet town of Mountain Bluff is like no one he’s ever met.

Opal Boyd has finally found the haven she’s longed for all her life, in a most unlikely place—working for a German couple in this remote Wyoming mountain town. She learned long ago that most men couldn’t be trusted, but when a mountain man stops in the boarding house where she works, he seems to have the respect and affection of the two people she’s learned to trust implicitly. And the more she comes to know Matthias, she struggles not to trust him the same way the others do.

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Happy Reading, one and all.