The First Widow by Rob Starr

.                               BLURB

Over a hundred husbands dead.

Countless secrets.

The most horrifying case of Kiara Fox’s career…

Kiara Fox leads a relatively ordinary life as a fraud investigator, looking into life insurance claims. With a loving husband and twin daughters, her world seems close to perfect. But when a case involving a wealthy businessman named Martin Powers lands on her desk, she senses something is off.

After her bosses put undue pressure on her to pay the claim quickly, she is convinced foul play is at work and begins a clandestine investigation. She discovers that Powers was not the pillar of the community he was cracked up to be but, rather, a controlling abusive husband who died in questionable circumstances, and she suspects this may not be the first such case her company has settled.

As she delves deeper, innocent people begin to die and Kiara finds herself in dangerous territory. Torn between protecting her own family and uncovering whoever is behind the killings, she faces an impossible choice and will have to confront her greatest fears.

MY THOUGHTS

Rob Starr is an author that is new to me and so is, I believe, having a lead that is a fraud investigator so I thought I'd give it a go. 

Glad I did too, The First Widow was an absolute, edge of the seat belter. I wasn't 100% sure when I started but it quickly built up pace to become, as they say, un-put-downable. In Kiara Fox we have a tough and determined investigator who is pretty much put through the wringer by author Starr.

Action, dead bodies, fraud (obviously 🙄), The First Widow is cited on the front cover as 'THE BLOCKBUSTER THRILLER OF THE YEAR' and in this instance I'm going to agree with that statement.

My hope now is that Rob Starr is going to be able, if that is his plan, to build a series round Kiara Fox - I for one certainly want more.

 

To Kill Two Birds - M K Turner

 

Welcome to the final stop on the blog tour for M K Turner's To Kill Two Birds.

From the blurb:

Armed only with his camera, JJ Jenson is determined to catch a dangerous and desperate murderer.

Seven-year-old Daniel Boyd was murdered, and DI JJ Jenson watched his killer, Bryn Jenkins, walk away from court a free man. The police had failed Daniel, and the already devastated Boyd family.
The murder of Daniel, and the destruction of the Boyd family, has haunted JJ. But now, ten years later, someone is sending JJ photographs.
Could the photographs hold the clue to putting Jenkins behind bars where he belongs? JJ knows he has to try, and sets off to get find Jenkins with his new partner, Davie George, determined that this time he will see Jenkins locked up, and get justice for Daniel and the Boyd family.
Jenkins has powerful and dangerous friends, and now armed, Jenkins knows they’re on to him and takes flight, determined to remain free – whatever it takes. But JJ isn't the only one who wants Jenkins.
Has JJ taken on too much? Is he putting Davie’s life at risk too?

MY THOUGHTS:

I'll be honest, I was up for reading/reviewing this as soon as I heard about it. The only concern was that it was book 2 in a series but luckily it works just as well as a stand alone story (although I will hitting up Amazon for book 1 very soon).

Telling the tale across two timelines can be tricky but Turner pulls it off well. The murder of Daniel Boyd and the release of his murderer is what led JJ Jenson to leave the police ten years ago. In the present JJ is now a Private Investigator and someone is sending him photo's that may be just the thing to put Bryn Jenkins (the murderer) where he belongs - behind bars.

The thing I thought Turner did really well with this story was in conveying just how much this kind of case can eat away at people over the years. A decade has passed but the ripples from the original case are still there.

The action is well paced and made this a book I was eager to pick up every opportunity I had. The character development was spot on and JJ and his assistant Davie were ones I enjoyed spending time with and look forward to reading more of in the future.

In M K Turner I think I have found another author to stick on my Must Read list.

Thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto this tour. The other bloggers on it are in the image below, please have a look at their posts as well if you have the time.