Dead Lies by Cybele Loening (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Former NYPD cop Anna Valentine just landed her first homicide case.  The grisly double murder of a wealthy young couple. But it couldn't have come at a worse time. Recovering from recent personal tragedies, the young police officer just moved with her traumatized child to the suburbs where she hoped to pursue a quiet life and heal. To complicate matters, although she's sworn off men until she and her son are happy and whole again, Anna feels the pull of attraction to the handsome twin brother of one of the victims, a man who has yet to be crossed off the suspect list. Teaming up with lead detective Jerry Kreeger, a 57 year-old veteran cop who's lonely, broke, and close to burn out, Anna chases a crafty killer and ultimately exposes a family's shocking secrets that will rock a town."

My Thoughts:

 I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to continue on with this series!  One of the things that I enjoyed most about this book was that it was written like a police procedural.  I love reading about the step by step process in a police investigation.  Those little details really made this book come to life for me!  Told from multiple viewpoints, this book really allowed for me to connect to the characters which enhanced my enjoyment of the book even more.  Anna has just moved out of the city to lead a quiet life as a police officer in the suburbs while raising her son.  She finds herself thrown into this murder investigation and it isn't long before she realizes that this is something she wants to do with her life.  I thought that Anna and Kreeger made a really great team so I found it interesting that there was also some unresolved feelings that seemed to be developing between the two of them.  Actually, Anna's backstory really added to the storyline because further along in the book we were able to see why Anna moved from the city and learned about the tragedy that caused this move.  This caused me as the reader to connect to her all the more as I wanted to see something good happen to her.

This mystery portion of this book was done well and although I had my own suspects as to who the killer was.....it turned out that I was completely and totally wrong. I loved it!  There were parts that I had figured out but overall the ending took me by surprise and left me wanting more.  This was a book that I took my time with and didn't try to rush through.  I enjoyed it all the more because of it.  The ending of this book tied up everything nicely but left me more than excited to read more about these characters again.  

Overall I really enjoyed this one and am excited to have found a new author/series to follow.  I am especially excited as this is the author's first book (I believe) so if it was already this good, I can't wait to see what she comes up next.   Mystery fans and those who enjoy police procedurals should definitely give this one a try.  Recommended!

Bottom Line:  A great beginning to this new mystery series that left me excited to read more!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book thanks to the author as part of a CBB Blog Tour.