Former police officer turned Montana private detective Cassie Dewell has two bizarre mysteries on her hands.
First off, a wealthy matron who’d been bilked by a conman needs her help — not to find the conman but locate the private eye she originally hired to solve the case. The last time the woman heard from him, he was hot on the scammer’s trail, but now he seems to have disappeared.
Next up, hundreds of people are searching for a chest full of gems and gold that has been hidden somewhere in the mountain west. Clues to its location are contained in a poem posted in a local bar. The man behind the game anonymously contacts Dewell and offers her $25,000 if she can discover his identity. His name would all but give away the treasure’s location, he says, and he doesn’t want the game to end that way. He wants to make sure he has covered his tracks.
Author C.J. Box does a fine job of developing his characters, especially the conman whose charm and sex appeal are so irresistible that even Cassie fights the urge to be drawn to him. However, the author’s customary fast pacing and suspenseful plot twists are largely absent this time.
For the full text of my review for the Associated Press, please click here.
Bruce DeSilva's Rogue Island 