Fiona Glass is a gifted forensic artist with a troubled past. Her incredibly accurate sketches have helped catch countless criminals, but she struggles to cope with one harrowing case after the next. She’s vowed to retire and concentrate her artistic efforts on creating happy, faceless paintings. Unfortunately, her contacts in law enforcement aren’t respecting her decision. Fiona’s life is further complicated by her feckless sister, Courtney, whose frequent brushes with the law and married men have a tendency to backfire dramatically.
Jack Bowman is chief of police in Graingerville, Texas. He’s convinced that the murder of a local Hispanic girl is the work of a serial killer. He notices similarities between this crime and one committed eleven years previously: the kidnap and rape of Jack’s ex-girlfriend, Lucy. The investigation was botched by the former chief of police, who was apparently more concerned with the whereabouts of his next doughnut than with cracking the case. Now that Jack is in charge, he’s determined to rectify the mistakes made by his predecessor, and bring Lucy’s attacker to justice. As no adequate sketch of the perpetrator was ever made, Jack wants to hire Fiona to create one.
Fiona is reluctant to get involved in yet another gruesome criminal investigation. She’s also reluctant to get involved with yet another cop. Jack’s rugged charm and persistence eventually wear her down on both counts. The accuracy of her forensic portrait results in more leads, and Jack and Fiona soon find themselves in a race against time before the killer strikes again.
This is a smoothly-written novel. It balances the development of the romance and the evolving investigation extremely well. There were a couple of moments in the middle of the book when the pacing stalled. Thankfully, it picked up again in the last third.
One aspect I really appreciated is that Jack actually behaved like a cop. Although he was interested in having a relationship with Fiona, he didn’t pursue her to the detriment of his case. When an important phone call came through on their first date, he left immediately. I was so pleased to see this. All too often, romantic suspense heroes seem to forget their jobs/responsibilities in the heat of passion, which is utterly unrealistic. (I’m thinking of one Linda Howard novel in which the protagonists stop to have sex during a shoot-out.)
The weak point in the story was Fiona. Frankly, I found her irritating. Her wishy-washyness about quitting forensic art annoyed me. I wanted her to stop dithering, make a decision and stick to it. She also blew hot and cold with Jack, which really made no sense. Her difficult childhood was not fully explored but I imagine this will be resolved in the sequel, Whisper of Warning, which features her sister Courtney.
Despite my dislike of Fiona, the book as a whole was an entertaining read. Laura Griffin writes well and clearly knows her stuff when it comes to police procedure. I much preferred the portrayal of Courtney’s character to Fiona’s, and I’m looking forward to reading her story. Grade: B
