Spotlight on Quarter to Midnight

Quarter to Midnight

by Karen Rose

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: August 2, 2022

Read by Nancy

 

Good cops. Bad cops. Only one will win.
 
After completing her tours with the Marines in Iraq, Molly Sutton knew she could take down any bad guy she met. But when a family tragedy exposes the dark side of her local police, she joined up with her former CO Burke Broussard, who left New Orleans PD to set up a private investigative service for people who couldn’t find justice elsewhere.
 
Gabe Hebert saw the toll that working for the NOPD took on his dad and decided instead to make a name for himself as one of the best young chefs in the French Quarter. But when his father’s death is ruled a suicide after a deliberately botched investigation by his former captain, Gabe knows his dad stumbled onto a truth that someone wants silenced.
 
Gabe goes to his father’s best friend, Burke, for help. Burke assigns the toughest member of his team, Molly, to the case. Molly can’t believe she’s being asked to work with the smoking hot chef whose chocolate cake is not the only thing that makes her mouth water. Sparks fly as they follow the leads Gabe’s dad left them, unraveling a web of crimes, corruption, and murder that runs all the way to the top.

 

PJ and I had originally planned that I would review this book for The Romance Dish. When I finished the book and turned to the acknowledgements, however, I saw my name there. I provided a small bit of help to Karen Rose as she worked on this book, and she generously acknowledged that in print. In the circumstances, an actual review didn’t seem appropriate, so we decided I would do a writeup of the book instead of a formal review. 

With Quarter to Midnight, Karen Rose launches a new series in a new city, New Orleans. The story opens with a retired police officer, Rocky Hebert, pursuing a cold case, a murder that occurred during Hurricane Katrina more than fifteen years earlier. He has an appointment with a doctor who has information for him. But he doesn’t realize those who covered up the murder are snipping loose ends and are on his heels. Rocky doesn’t survive the night. 

Rocky’s death is ruled a suicide, but his son, Gabe, the head chef of a hot new restaurant, doesn’t accept that. He secretly arranges for forensic examinations of his father’s body and brings the results to his dad’s former partner, Burke Broussard. Now a private investigator, Burke runs an agency in New Orleans, Broussard’s Private Investigations, LLC. He assigns former Marine Molly Sutton to the case. Gabe insists on investigating with her, and the two begin retracing his father’s steps. 

Meanwhile, those tying up loose ends are hunting the witness to that old murder. Xavier Morrow was five years old during Katrina. Pushed onto the roof of his home by his mother moments before the flood waters took her, he was huddled there when he saw someone kill one of his neighbors. Rocky Hebert was among the group who rescued Xavier and others in his neighborhood. Xavier told Rocky about the murder, but when Rocky went back for the body, it was gone. Xavier was evacuated to Houston, as so many New Orleans residents were. A family there adopted him. But he never forgot the murder and Rocky kept looking for the killer. 

Although more than fifteen years have passed, the killer had a distinctive feature that would provide convincing proof of identification. The killer knows it and is taking steps, including leaving a trail of bodies, to see that it doesn’t become a problem. 

The sprawling, lethal catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina changed the face of New Orleans, wiping away entire neighborhoods, as it did the one where Xavier lived. It killed many of her residents and forced others to leave forever. The use of this situation as the springboard for a cold case story made perfect sense. The killer knows there was a witness, but the evacuation and adoption make finding the child difficult. It also complicates the search for other witnesses in the story’s present day. 

Without going back and counting heads in Rose’s other books, I can’t definitely state that Quarter to Midnight has a bigger cast of characters than most, but it feels as though it does. They’re handled deftly, with distinct personalities and story threads, so the reader doesn’t become confused. The story initially cuts back and forth between the murder mystery in New Orleans and Xavier’s jeopardy in Houston. As it does, each group of characters steps to the fore and gives us reasons to care about them. 

We know early who the main villain in Quarter to Midnight is and what drives him. But we don’t know who’s helping him. Rose keeps their identities secret without going through plot contortions to do so. The uncertainty as to who might be deadly keeps the tension in the story high. 

There’s also tension between Molly and Gabe, who were already attracted to each other though their only interactions had occurred when she visited his restaurant. The tension and the attraction grow, and the developing relationship makes a logical vehicle for the two to share their backstories and their feelings about what’s happening. 

The large cast provides plenty of potential lead characters for future books. There are the members of the Broussard agency, Gabe’s cousin Patty, who’s also his partner in the restaurant, Molly’s sister and her daughter, and a few trustworthy members of the New Orleans Police Department. Then there’s the Houston group, Xavier, his friend Carlos, Carlos’s brother, Manny, Xavier’s mom, Cicely, and Cicely’s friend Willa Mae. Cicely is a nurse, Willa Mae is a lawyer, and neither one of them stands for any nonsense. They were two of my favorite characters in the book. 

Rose’s family groups generally include at least one strong, middle-aged, often maternal woman, but these two struck me as being a notch higher on the taking charge scale. This may be because of the way they handle their adventure on the way to New Orleans and the events when they arrive there. 

I also enjoyed the Broussard agency’s office manager, Joy Thomas, a former police detective, now a CPA, who runs the office from her wheelchair. She also doesn’t tolerate any nonsense. As a longtime fan of the DC Comics character Oracle, I have a soft spot for smart, no-nonsense women using wheelchairs. 

One of the things that makes this story engaging is the web of emotional ties that bind the different characters to each other. Gabe and Xavier both have loved and were loved by Rocky but in different ways. Molly and her sister and niece have family ties as well as bonds formed by shared trauma. The Broussard Investigations members are found family, affectionate and loyal to each other, and Molly and Burke share the additional tie of having served as Marines together. 

At the heart of the emotional web, of course, is the developing relationship between Molly and Gabe. They make the transition from mutual but unacknowledged attraction to something else I don’t want to spoil, and it’s handled smoothly in a believable way. 

The story twists and turns with the characters shifting from hunters to hunted and back as the plot builds. The conclusion, an explosive confrontation that begins at a banquet and moves to the tourist-filled streets of New Orleans, provides a satisfying payoff. 

As you can probably tell, I really loved this book. But that’s the most I’m going to say because this is not technically a review.

 

~Nancy

Blog Blitz Review - - Say Goodbye

Say Goodbye

by Karen Rose

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: August 3, 2021

Reviewed by Nancy

For decades, Eden has remained hidden in the remote wilds of the Pacific Northwest, “Pastor” keeping his cult's followers in thrall for his personal profit and sexual pleasures. But the Founding Elders are splintering, and Pastor's surrogate son DJ is scheming to make it all his own. 

 
When two of Eden's newest members send out a cry for help, it reaches FBI Special Agent Tom Hunter, whose friend and fellow FBI Special Agent Gideon Reynolds and his sister, Mercy, are themselves escapees of the Eden cult, targeted by the Founding Elders who want them silenced forever. The three have vowed to find the cult and bring it down, and now, they finally have a solid lead.
 
Neutralizing Eden’s threat will save captive members and ensure Tom’s new friends can live without fear. But when his best friend, ex-Army combat medic Liza Barkley, joins the case, it puts her life—and their blossoming love—in danger. With everything they hold dear in the balance, Tom and Liza, together with Gideon and Mercy, must end Eden once and for all.

Nancy Says: 

Say Goodbye is the third book in Karen Rose’s Sacramento series. It wraps up the three-book arc about the survivors of the abusive Eden cult and their efforts to shut it down. As is usual in Rose’s books, there’s a romance along with the hunt for the criminals. In Say Goodbye, the romance is a friends-to-lovers plot involving FBI Special Agent Tom Hunter and nursing student Liza Barkley. Theirs is one of my favorite romantic threads, but before we get to that, let’s look at the rest of the story. This will be a bit on the vague side. Many of the things I liked most would be spoilers if shared, and I don’t want to ruin anything. 

Rose introduced Eden in Say You’re Sorry. In that book, we learned FBI agent Gideon Reynolds had been smuggled out of Eden by his mother when he was thirteen. No one was allowed to leave there. Anyone who escaped was said to have been killed by wild animals, and the Eden leaders provided mangled, unrecognizable bodies to substantiate that. Now, seventeen years later, a necklace involved in a serial killer case offers a new lead to Eden.  It also draws him closer to his sister, Mercy Callahan. Their mom smuggled Mercy out years after Gideon left and paid for Mercy’s escape with her life. The siblings found each other but didn’t reconnect emotionally. This first book brings them back together as they rebuild their relationship.

Eden moves to the forefront in the second book, Say No More, as the FBI hunts for its location. The settlement moves from time to time, which makes it harder to find. One of the cult leaders has learned Mercy is still alive, and he wants to drag her back to Eden.

The Sokolovs, a big, affectionate family in Sacramento, took Gideon in after he befriended Rafe Sokolov. They play an important role in all three books. It’s fun to read about loving, loyal families who embrace people not of their blood, like Gideon and Mercy. When Mercy becomes involved with Rafe, that’s just a bonus to them.

The end of Say No More sets up Say Goodbye with a violent confrontation between the FBI and DJ Belmont, a trusted member of Eden who runs errands to the outside world for them. As Say Goodbye opens, DJ is back in Eden and plotting his revenge. The head of the cult, an elderly man known as Pastor, believes Gideon and Mercy are dead, and DJ, the tech expert, will be in deep trouble if Pastor learns otherwise. So he must complete his revenge before that can happen.

We also meet a young, pregnant woman named Hayley and her brother, Graham. They’ve been dragged to Eden by their mother because of Hayley’s pregnancy. She is desperate to escape before her baby is born, in part because there are no medical facilities but mostly because one of the community elders has promised to take her baby for his wife to raise. Graham is very handy with tech and secretly helps her use the computer, which no one beyond Pastor, DJ, and the healer, is supposed to know they have, to send a message to her child’s father. Unfortunately, the young father’s efforts to send help fail for reasons that become important in the story.

Because of DJ’s problems in Say No More, the community has had to relocate. They’re living in primitive conditions with no running water and no reliable food supply. Pastor dispatches DJ for supplies, and he sees this as an opportunity to kill Mercy and Gideon and to feather his nest through his involvement in a criminal gang.

Meanwhile, the FBI is searching for Eden. They’ve recovered information on the past locations but don’t have any leads to its present one. New agent Tom Hunter is the center of the story but not the head of the task force, which leads to problems for him as he pursues his quarry by means his superiors don’t always approve.

Tom is a former NBA star and a computer hacker. His hacking skills are crucial to the investigation, and his background in pro sports figures into the story in an important way in addition to giving his character depth when he deals with fans.

Tom’s close friend, nursing student and decorated former army medic Liza Barkley, offers emotional support and aid to Mercy, Gideon, and the Sokolov family. As Tom and Liza spend time together, however, her old attraction to him increasingly plagues her. Their situation is complicated by his mourning for his fiancée, who was pregnant when she was murdered a little more than a year before the story opens. Liza carries guilt over a former relationship and must come to terms with it while dealing with her attraction to Tom.

I loved the way this friends-to-lovers relationship developed. Liza and Tom’s qualms weren’t about risking their friendship so much as they were about dealing with the past. They’re a couple for whom the timing was never right. Now, when they’re both free, Tom is haunted by loyalty to the woman he would’ve married. Their relationship issues come to a head when Liza makes a decision that brings her into the Eden investigation in a dangerous way.

Rose always writes strong women, but Liza takes that to a higher level that’s very engaging. Her military background makes her choices believable and sympathetic. That’s a vague description but deliberately so. I don’t want to spoil this for anyone.

Back in Eden, Pastor takes a fall on a rocky hillside that causes severe injuries. Although no one in Eden is allowed to go to a hospital, he makes an exception for himself (of course!). DJ takes him and the healer to a clinic recommended by the head of his criminal gang. He considers shooting them on the way because he hates Pastor, but there’s a wrinkle. Eden’s offshore accounts contain over fifty million dollars, and he wants the codes to access them, which Pastor changes regularly. The movement of money and his presence in the clinic offer opportunities to the investigators.

The hunt comes to a head with a violent confrontation on a highway near a ravine. The action is choreographed in a way that’s believable and tense, and the actions of the characters involved are true to the ways they’ve been established earlier.

The resolution to a trilogy, for me, ultimately determines how well I think all three books worked. This resolution was spot on. Rose brings together the storylines of the FBI investigation, Tom and Liza’s relationship, DJ’s quest for revenge, Hayley’s pregnancy, and the fate of Eden in a skillful web. The lead characters from the prior books also contribute to the solution. Nothing comes too easily, which is great. Eden’s fate would not be believable if she had made it simple.

Most of the characters are warm and engaging. The Eden elders, of course, are not, but they are also not cardboard cutouts. They’re layered and complex. The investigation takes intriguing twists and turns in ways that are not predictable, and the action scenes move quickly yet are easy to follow. Then there’s the superb resolution to the trilogy. Say Goodbye delivers on all counts. I highly recommend it.

 

Review - - Every Dark Corner

Every Dark Corner

By Karen Rose

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: February 7, 2017
Reviewed by: Nancy Northcott

In Every Dark Corner, Rose builds a gripping plot around the exploitation of children.  At its heart is a young woman named Mallory who was illegally adopted by a child pornographer.  He turned her into an internet porn star when she was just a child. Even though she’s now an adult, she obeys his every command because his sister and her husband have Mallory’s sister, Macy, in their keeping.  If Mallory causes any kind of problem, Macy will become the next video porn sensation.

A chance encounter at a grocery store puts Mallory on the radar of the Cincinnati police, but they don’t know how to find her.  Kept close and monitored by her captor, Mallory wrestles with a desire to report him to the police and fear of what will happen to Macy if she does.

Meanwhile, an FBI task force is trying to find the partner of a human trafficker they recently arrested (in Alone in the Dark, the prior book in this series).  The clues they have are sparse, so the reader begins to suspect before they do that Mallory’s captor may be the man they seek.

Rose brings back Scarlett Bishop and Marcus and Stone O’Bannion as well as other characters from Alone in the Dark and the book before it, Closer Than You Think, but reading the prior books isn’t necessary to understand who they are.  Rose gives just enough of an introduction to each character to ground the reader without dropping in a chunk of information that would distract from the current story.

The heroine of Every Dark Corner, Special Agent Kate Coppola, a former US Army MP, is tenacious and sympathetic, pursuing the case while struggling with her own demons.  The death of her husband and the suicide of his brother haunt her, but she won’t let them stop her.  Knitting and origami help calm her mind and allow her to focus.  As the story progresses and her trust in the hero, Special Agent Griffin “Decker” Davenport, grows, Kate finds the strength to exorcise her past.

To Decker, the hunt for exploited children is personal.  His sister was a victim he couldn’t save.  So even though he’s recovering from a bullet wound and a week in a medically induced coma, results of the role he played in Alone in the Dark, he insists on being part of this investigation. He also wants to stay close to Kate, to whom he is increasingly attracted.

As the FBI task force closes in, the man they’re chasing starts snipping what he considers to be loose ends. Deaths mount up, and the task force searches for links.  But will they find enough before time runs out for Mallory and the next group of children being trained for exploitation?

One of the pleasures of this series is seeing characters who play supporting roles in one book, as Decker and Kate did in Alone in the Dark, move to the fore.  Another is getting to see how characters who were prominent in earlier books, like Scarlett Bishop, Marcus and Stone O’Bannion, and Diesel Kennedy from Alone in the Dark and Deacon Novak and Faith Corcoran from Closer Than You Think, are doing now.

The story moves at a good pace, switching perspectives from the task force to their quarry to Mallory, without becoming confusing.  While this book deals with gritty subject matter, Rose handles it with care and taste and doesn’t shy away from showing the toll it takes on some of the task force members.

Highly recommended.

Review - - Alone in the Dark

Alone in the Dark

by Karen Rose

Publisher: Signet

Release Date: February 2, 2016

 

With a network of villains who will stop at nothing to maintain their power and a determined couple on their trail, the latest in Karen Rose’s Cincinnati based romantic suspense novels is just the thing to curl up with over a long winter weekend.

We first met hero, Army Ranger turned publisher Marcus O’Bannion, in last year’s Closer Than You Think, and the events of that book still haunt him months later—especially the injuries he suffered saving two kidnap victims. And true to form, he begins this book attempting to save another victim, one who unfortunately is killed before he can do so. It’s that murder that brings him back into contact with the beautiful Cincinnati PD detective, Scarlett Bishop, who has haunted him since she visited him at his bedside after he was shot.

Scarlett knows that she’s attracted to the handsome newspaperman with a penchant for rescuing people, but despite her hope that his presence at the murder scene was as innocent as he claims, she’s not quite sure she’s ready to trust him. Not to mention the fact that he wore a bullet proof vest to a meeting with a teenage girl, there’s the fact that he recorded the entire encounter with a mini video camera. Is he just after a great story, or was his presence there simply an attempt to help a young woman in trouble as he claimed. She knows what she wants to believe, but her boss and her cop instincts tell her to be wary.

What unfolds is a high-octane, complicated, romantic, angry-making thriller that kept me turning the pages long after my bedtime had passed. Though I expect a strong mystery plot with a Karen Rose novel, over the past several books these have become “bigger” both in scope and in complexity. And Alone in the Dark is no exception. Along with this super-sized plot comes a higher body count, which at times is even a bit too much for this thriller lover. Even so, Rose makes me care about even the most disposable of secondary characters, and even when that little voice in my head is telling me this couldn’t possibly happen in real life, I’m riveted to the page and telling that little voice to shut up so I can finish the story.

As I’ve come to appreciate about her work, Rose doesn’t stint in the romance department, even when there’s so much more page count needed to unravel the mystery. There was so much exquisite angst between Scarlett and Marcus—they’d pined for one another for months before they saw each other again—and that made their admission of their feelings, and the consummation of them, that much sweeter. I’m a big fan of the “hero and heroine work together to meet a goal” trope and Karen Rose always delivers on that. And even when they’re running for their lives or arguing about which approach to take when confronting the bad guys, there’s never any doubt that these two are meant for each other.

Any series reader will tell you that as soon as they finish one book, they’re wondering whose book comes next, and with this one there are a number of options. It could be Marcus’s brother Stone and the Animal Shelter Director who was also injured by the previous villain. Or perhaps it will be Dani, the sister of Scarlett’s partner Deacon, coupled up with Marcus’s right-hand-man, who has a gruff exterior and a troubled past. All I know is I want that book in my hand.

Right. Thrilling. Now.

~Manda Collins

Manda Collins writes smart, sexy historical romance laced with a touch of mystery. Her most recent book, Good Earl Gone Bad, second in her The Lords of Anarchy series was released in October, 2015 and the next, Good Dukes Wear Black will be released in April, 2016. You can find more information about Manda and her books at her website and connect with her online at Facebook and Twitter.

Review - - Closer Than You Think

Closer Than You Think
By Karen Rose
Publisher: Signet
Release Date: February 3, 2015

In the world of romantic suspense, the lay-person caught up in a situation that’s bigger than they can control is a common plotline. But the heroine of Karen Rose’s latest romantic suspense, CLOSER THAN YOU THINK, has lasted longer dealing with a dangerous situation on her own than most.

Back in Miami, psychologist Faith Corcoran has had a difficult time convincing the police that her former client has been trying to kill her. But when her partner is shot to death right before her eyes, she knows that it’s not just her, but also anyone she’s close to who is in danger from this madman. So, she sells her car, ditches her iPhone for a burner phone and drives to the one place she never thought she’d see again: the mansion her grandmother left her in Cincinnati. The mansion that holds terrible memories that Faith has spent her whole life trying to suppress.

FBI Special Agent Deacon Novak, meanwhile, is dealing with his own ghosts from the past. Only recently returned to Cincinnati from Baltimore, he’s trying to care for his high school aged brother and get along with the aunt and uncle who cared for Deacon and his siblings after their parents were killed in a car crash. And as a member of a special task force with the Cincinnati police, he’s searching for two missing college girls who seem to have vanished without a trace. But a 911 call from Faith changes everything, including his heart.

What follows is, true to Karen Rose form, an adrenaline fueled labyrinth of a case that puts both Faith and Deacon in danger from a killer who will stop at nothing to keep his terrible secret. Layer by layer Rose reveals the series of events that led up to both Faith and Deacon’s returns to Cincinnati, and the journey of one of the kidnapped girls as she literally runs for her life from the person who tried to kill her.

The story takes place over a relatively short period of time, as does the building relationship between Deacon and Faith, but because of the intensity of the situation it is entirely believable. I especially liked the way that these two took care of each other and the love scenes that took place in stolen moments of down time were both tender and combustible. I also enjoyed seeing Deacon interact with his sister and brother and hope to see his sister as a future Karen Rose heroine.

As with Karen Rose’s most recent series, this is a bigger book than readers who started out with her in romantic suspense will be accustomed to. And as such it follows the points of view of more than just Deacon and Faith. But none of the narrative seemed forced and it kept me turning the pages well into the wee hours of the night.

CLOSER THAN YOU THINK is the first book in a new series based in Cincinnati, and if it’s anything to go by, I’ve got some action-packed, sexy reads in my immediate future. Which makes this romantic suspense fan very, very happy.

~Manda Collins

Manda Collins writes smart, sexy historical romance laced with a touch of mystery. Manda still lives in her native coastal Alabama where she works as an academic librarian at a small liberal arts college.  Her next book, A Good Rake is Hard to Find, kicks off her new The Lords of Anarchy series and will be released by St. Martin's Press on March 31, 2015.   You can find more information about Manda and her books at her website and connect with her online at Facebook and Twitter.

Review - - Watch Your Back

PJ here.  I'm delighted to welcome Manda Collins today, not in her role as a published author but as a book reviewer. Manda will be joining us from time to time to share her thoughts about books in one of her favorite romance sub-genres:  romantic suspense. Today, Manda is reviewing the newly-released Watch Your Back by Karen Rose. Welcome, Manda!




Watch Your Back
By Karen Rose
Publisher:  Signet
Release Date: February 4, 2014

                I've had mad love for Karen Rose ever since she happily autographed her entire backlist for me at a RWA conference some years back. It's rare that an author even gets her most recent book, let alone her entire backlist to sign at the RWA publisher signings—so her publisher must have known just how good she was!

                But what really tipped me over the edge to fangirl was her writing, and her latest WATCH YOUR BACK is easily one of her best.

                On medical leave from being shot in the previous book, Baltimore cop Stevie (Stefania) Mazzetti  has been going through her former partner's cases with a fine toothed comb in her down time, looking for anything untoward. You see, her former partner was in the pay of a very powerful man who paid to see to it that his enemies were punished while his friends got off scot free.  And Stevie wants to right the wrongs he committed, in part because she feels responsible for not having realized he was dirty. 

                          But Stevie has more issues than just a gunshot wound to deal with. She's also still recovering emotionally from the seemingly random shooting deaths of her husband and small son some years ago. And that has left her terrified to fall in love again. So much so that when former Marine turned Private Investigator Clay Maynard tries to turn their sizzling attraction into a relationship she turns him down flat. But when a sniper takes a shot at her on the anniversary of her husband and son's deaths, then tries again later at her house, she'll have to deal with Clay's presence in her life whether she wants him there or not. He's in protective mode and it will take more than Stevie's protests to keep him from doing what needs to be done to keep her safe.

                What follows is a twisting, turning tale of betrayal, sins of the past, and an arch villain who will stop at nothing to see to it that no one discovers he is the mastermind behind years of terror. As is her usual MO, Karen Rose has created a world in this Baltimore setting that seems so real you want to visit there. There are several threads of plot that carry over from the previous books in the series, and though I think it could be read as a standalone, to get the full effect it would be best to read those first.     

          

                One thing that is especially fun in any Karen Rose book is playing spot the walk-ons from other series and books. In this case, it's Stevie's friend and self-help guru, Emma , and her husband Christopher, who were the stars of Rose's novella "Dirty Secrets" from the anthology Hot Pursuit. And of course we get to see the couples from the previous books in the series, and various other secondary characters that populate her Baltimore world.

                Overall, I think this is one of Rose's strongest books, and I hope this won't end her time in Baltimore. I've grown to love these people and their friendships and loves and I will be sorry if we don't get to see more relationships develop among them. But knowing Karen Rose, even if she does decide to move the main action of her books somewhere else, we'll see these characters again someday as walk-ons in someone else's romance.

~Manda Collins

http://mandacollins.com

Manda Collins writes smart, sexy historical romance laced with a touch of mystery.  Manda still lives in her native coastal Alabama where she works as an academic librarian at a small liberal arts college.  Her most recent book, Why Earls Fall in Love, the second in her Wicked Widows trilogy, was released by St. Martin's on January 28, 2014.  You can find more information about Manda and her books at her website and connect with her online at Facebook and Twitter.