Positive Grace by Deb Haggerty

Deb’s Dozens: She’s So Angry, She Could Murder Her Husband—Then Somebody Does—Not Jo!

Jo Oliver is the Haversport Chief of Police, enmeshed in a messy divorce from her abusive husband and her replacement. The divorce is not going well, and Jo entertains pleasant thoughts of killing them both. Then somebody does and Jo is forced to call in the message of the double murder of her estranged husband, Del, an officer in the force and his mistress. Her second call is to her best friend, Nick Vitarello, an FBI officer.

The scene is messy—the killer had tortured them before they were murdered. Jo takes one look at the mayhem and vaults outside to throw up. How could anyone, even a murderer, be so cruel? She is Shattered by Death. Nick arrives and takes charge and when Paradise Deputy Chief Grundy shows up (not one of Jo’s fans), Nick shields her and takes her home.

Jo’s best friend, Donna, an amateur sleuth and premier research calls and makes Jo promise to call her as soon as she’s calmed down. Chilled, Jo decides to start a fire—blocking the flue is a bloody sledgehammer—yes, the murder weapon or one of them. Now she’s in really deep. And to make matters worse, the hearing on the adoption of her daughter-to-be, Sam, is coming up.

Then she gets a text: DON’T FEEL SO BAD. THEY DESERVED IT.

More murders, more fingers point at Jo—the victims all had ties to her. Will Donna and Nick and Jo ever sort this out? Will she be able to adopt Sam? Twists and turns and ups and downs fill the book. On top of everything, Nick declares his love for Jo—and she now has another dilemma. The story is great, the characters well developed, Jo and Nick and Donna and Sam are to be loved. Four stars! A great whodunit thriller.

Dr. Catherine Finger is also committed to protect and serve through her job as a high school principal in Grayslake, Illinois. Her first book in the series, Cleansed by Death, received great reviews. You’ll want to check her out at CatherineFinger.com.

Shattered by DeathShattered by Death was given to me by the author, but I was in no way obligated to write a favorable review.

Deb’s Dozen: Six friends flee a dictator President, the US’s future on the line.

Voice of Freedom is Book 2 in the Against All Enemies series. The story continues from Voice in the Wilderness with a change of focus from Brock and KC to Steve and Julia. Their rescue from the dire situation they faced in Book 1 dictated the company of friends hide. After being forced to flee the evil machinations of the sitting president, Abe Hannan, who wants to be the US dictator, they are plotting their continuing strategy to bring him down while in a sanctuary on the Israeli Coast.

Brock and KC refuse to wait a moment longer and have planned their marriage right in their suite. Almost immediately after they say “I do,” RPGs fly in the window, and they are again forced to flee. This time, however, Brock has been severely injured, and KC won’t leave him. Steve, who has been drawn to Julia because she reminds him of his kid sister, and Julia, not the frail scaredy-cat everyone assumes she is, must travel back to the States to resume their campaign to put an end to the president. But how can four people stop the military might backing the dictator president? How can they convince the country it’s in dire straits? How can three civilians and an Army Ranger win out over incredible odds—even when their team is augmented again by Brock and KC?

I love action/adventure/thrillers and Voice of Freedom is one of the best. Just when you are led to believe all hope is gone, something happens to turn the tables on evil, so good wins out. The romance between Steve and Julia is fraught with remembered difficulties in both their lives, but they learn to trust and depend on each other. Wegley has the knack of creating believable characters who draw you into their lives—you care for them from the very first pages.

The Against All Enemies series is wonderful—you’ll want both books. My only complaints about the books are that they ended too soon and Book 3, Chasing the Freedom—The Prequel, is coming in July and tells the story of the remaining two characters. Five starts—from both my husband and me.

H.L. Wegley served as an Air Force Intelligence Analyst and a Weather Officer. As a civilian, he worked as a research scientist, then worked for Boeing for twenty years where he developed many of their computing systems. Wegley and his wife, Babe, enjoy spending summers in Whistler, BC, where they “consume gallons of coffee, enjoy the beautiful scenery, and Babe reads while H.L. writes, sitting by a stream in the warm summer sun around Whistler Village.”

Although I received a free copy of this novel, I was in no way obligated to write a favorable review.