Nothing slows Tammy Sharp down.
Until she meets a bullet.
After Detective Tammy Sharp is injured on the job, she takes a leave of absence from the Atlanta PD.
The passing of her only uncle leads her home to Pocahontas, Arkansas. She needs time to mourn and find peace. Instead, she finds her ex, Jace Eubanks.
And a killer on the loose.
With murders old and new intertwining, Tammy’s life is filled with even more mysteries. Why does she keep getting messages about lost gold? Who was the man who died all those years ago? And who, for that matter, was Tammy’s uncle?
To solve these puzzles, Tammy faces a choice: team up with her ex or let justice slip away. As the clock ticks down to a sinister ultimatum, will Tammy outsmart the sociopath or fall prey to a deadly game of cat and mouse?
Tammy’s life quickly becomes chaotic after her Uncle Ellis’s suspicious drowning, especially once she inherits his estate—and reconnects with Jace Eubanks, a high school love who abandoned her decades ago to marry someone else. The scars from that betrayal still run deep, and the rekindling of their relationship adds layers of complexity to Tammy’s already fraught emotional landscape. Brewer plays off those dynamics in the push and pull Tammy feels between her old life and her new troubles; her mother, Ruby, who embodies old-school Southern charm, fervently hopes that her daughter will resist the temptation to investigate her uncle’s death, but, of course, Tammy can’t turn down the chance to get back in the game.
Brewer—author of Frankie’s Journey, among other romance titles—is clearly committed to clean, values-driven storytelling, which plays out here in moments like Tammy’s mother insisting she attend gospel meetings and then demanding that Tammy pause her investigation to prepare casseroles for a grieving family. Sporadic, first-person chapters provide a chilling glimpse into the killer’s mind, and Brewer deftly weaves together multiple murders, crafting a compelling and suspenseful plot with a satisfying mix of mystery, romance, and small-town intrigue.
Takeaway:Home and heart win out in this small town American murder mystery.
Comparable Titles: Elly Griffiths’s The Postscript Murders, Anne-Marie Meyer’s The Magnolia Inn.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
