A Cold Trail - Robert Dugoni

A Cold Trail - Robert Dugoni

He and she read

Publication date:  Feb. 20. 2019

This is the seventh in Robert Dugoni’s series featuring Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite.  I’ve read some of the previous ones and enjoyed them all.

Tracy has given birth and while their home in Seattle is being renovated, Tracy, Dan, and Baby Daniella retreat to the couple’s hometown of Cedar Grove which, for a small town, is seeing a bit of intrigue of its own.  An unseemly attorney hired to look into the death of Heather Johansen, a young woman murdered around the same time as Tracy’s sister, Sarah was killed has become a victim himself.  A local reporter, the wife of the present day sheriff, has died in a fire.  Suspicion has fallen on the sheriff who is now suspended.  Could all of these incidents be related, including the original death of the first girl?

Tracy has taken a leave of absence from her job but soon finds herself immersed  in investigating these incidents at the request of retired sheriff, Roy Calloway, long time friend of her deceased father.  Her investigation puts her life in danger.  But, after all, Tracy is a homicide detective and that is what she does.  Meanwhile, attorney husband Dan is involved in a business lawsuit against the city of Cedar Grove.

I thought the first part of this book was a bit of a slog. The case unfolded slowly and there was, for me, too much talk about the baby.  But, it picked up  resulting in another satisfying Dugoni read.

While having read the prior novels that involve the earlier death of Tracy’s sister is helpful, Dugoni does a good job of filling in enough background so that this can be read as a standalone.