A movie star stalker. A mountain ski lodge dripping in luxury. A moment that changes everything.
Stalkers, shootings and sassy special agents. All part of being famous, right? Well, they are for Oscar-winning actress Amelia Kingston when she starts getting deeply disturbing and threatening notes left by a stalker. When her boyfriend Ty is shot she calls in the Celebrity Crimes Investigation Agency (CCIA) the elite agency that specializes in solving crimes for the rich and famous.
The CCIA send new recruit Amber Reed and her rather handsome special agent partner Charlie undercover to Amelia’s luxury mountain chalet to investigate.
Circumstances force the agency to pull Charlie off the case, meaning Amber has a new crime-fighting partner to try and catch the stalker with – and he’s trouble with a capital T! He throws Amber’s life into chaos, making her question herself and her abilities as well as her relationship with Charlie.
Can the two of them manage to pull together and stop the stalker before anyone else gets shot?
If you love plenty of intrigue and humor with your mysteries then grab an Amber Reed book and join Amber on one of her many fun sleuthing adventures!
Free on 1st - 2nd Aug 23
Reviews:
A movie star stalker. A mountain ski lodge dripping in luxury. A moment that changes everything. Stalkers, shootings and sassy special agents. All part of being famous, right? Well, they are for Oscar-winning actress Amelia Kingston when she starts getting deeply disturbing and threatening notes left by a stalker. When her boyfriend Ty is shot […]
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Reviewer: Angel for Bookangel.
When Amelia Kingston's boyfriend is shot by a stalker, CCIA (Celebrity Crimes Investigation Agency) Support Officer Amber Reed is on the case. She wasn't expecting her assigned Agent to be pulled off the case, and working with a new partner proves troublesome, but if they want to catch the culprit she'll have to handle it.
The book has the illustrated cover type that is becoming standard for the Cozy Mystery genre, particularly in Britain, but the plot synopsis with Oscar winning actresses is anything but. The contrast was enough to catch my eye.
The layout isn't bad, though the first page goes into front matter and immediately (without any breaks) into a synopsis of the book. That synopsis is centered, and double spaced unlike the front matter, making it look a little odd on my e-reader. Then there's an ad for a new book. Then finally, the reader reaches the actual story. After the story the book ends with bonus chapters from the next book in the series, an invite to the author's reading list and get a free ebook, a request for reviews and an author profile.
I can't fault the formatting. Chapter headings are centered and all caps. The text inside has new paragraphs indented rather than line breaks, which are resolved for scene breaks. Likewise, the spelling and grammar were so well done I didn't spot any errors, and was so caught in the story I stopped looking for them.
This brings me to the story itself. This is the second in a series, but this story can be read stand-alone without any issues with just enough of the background from a previous book sketched in to fill in gaps without creating spoilers.
It is told in first person, from Amber's point of view, and rather unusually it is in present tense not past. Amber herself is an interesting character, a little out of her depth as a new agent even though she is trained, with insecurity issues that her inexperience only heightens. Sometimes I enjoy what she is doing, at other times I want to shake some sense into her, but what she definitely has is character that comes off the page.
I had one minor annoyance when the book started with a very bad case of "as you know", where one character tells another something they already know for the reader's sake (and in this case something that should not be discussed in a crowded airport). With that initial hurdle over though, the story picks up pace nicely. The first meeting sets the scene and gives a nice overview of the suspects, a history of them, and the relationship between Amber and Charlie, her partner, agent, and lover.
The tension ratchets up nicely when Charlie is called away and replaced by Dan, an agent Amber does not know, and Charlie does not like, leading to Amber having problems putting aside her personal concerns to focus on her job. By the end of the book, the mystery may be solved but Amber's personal life is not so tidy. Amber has hopefully grown as a character - enough people have told her about her issues that she will ideally acknowledge and resolve them - but the outcome of that remains to be seen.
Overall, this is a light afternoon's read to unwind, entertaining and engaging. Partway between a standard PI story and a cozy mystery, with overtones of spy thriller, it's something that people who like a touch of romance with their investigation will love, though it won't appeal to hardened thriller fans.
Rating: TBCQuicklink to this review
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