Jennifer Greer

This story introduces a new detective duo.

Whit McKenna has come to Medford, Oregon with her two teenage daughters after the death of her husband. She was a reporter and he was her photographer in Kabul when they were kidnapped by Taliban terrorists. Taken into the mountains, they got a chance to run but her husband John was shot and killed by the terrorists. Whit escaped with the help of a Special Forces team training in the area but she was left with PTSD and a terror of forests.

Katie Riggs is a police detective who switched to being a medical examiner after a bout with melanoma.

The two women met at a local book club and bonded. They frequently meet for coffee or a drink and they are running partners. Katie encouraged Whit to get back into journalism even though cops and journalists often have contentious relationships.

Both of them are looking at a crime but from different viewpoints when the body of famous actress Niki Francis is found buried in a shallow grave. While Whit goes looking for witnesses that she can quote for her story, Katie gets involved in the autopsy where it is discovered that Niki had a teratoma growing on her spine. Teratomas are relatively rare and were just a matter of interest but not necessarily relevant to her investigation.

Then there is a house fire and Whit happens to be there to see the body of the homeowner. She interviews a neighbor who gives her some insight into the lawyer who died. He seems to have been going through some kind of mid-life crisis causing him to leave his wife and take up with a young Czech woman. Whit is approached by the man's wife who is sure that her husband was murdered and she begs Whit to investigate. Then there is a third victim when a lawyer who is found in her pool and is suspected of drowning. But both lawyers have teratomas too.

I enjoyed this story which was an entertaining medical sort of mystery. I liked the personalities of the two main characters and liked that both of them had a lot of depth to their stories. I would be eager to read more about this pair of sleuths.… (mere)

How far would you go to tap the fountain of youth? And what if it kills you in the end? A Desperate Place is a fast-paced mysterious thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. With journalists and detectives racing against time to both break a story and the cycle of a killer, things can get dicey.
Interesting, and a bit gruesome on some of the details, but fascinating, and trust me you will be surprised by this journey.

*I received an arc from the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review… (mere)

A Desperate Place is a mystery that takes place in Medford, Oregon. I had to read it for that reason. And then to make it better, it features a crime-solving duo. McKenna and Riggs are a reporter and a pathologist who collaborate and share information in order to advance their separate investigations. This is not exactly a Rizzoli & Isles kind of collaboration because they’re working under ethical guidelines that preclude complete sharing of information.

McKenna is covering a fire where a man died, perhaps by suicide, when she’s called way to another story. A body has been found in the woods, thanks in part to a bear. When the woman is autopsied, a stranger monstrous tumor is found. Even stranger, the same thing is found in the man who died in the fire.

I enjoyed A Desperate Place even though the solution seemed obvious long before our investigators got to it. McKenna is too reckless and well before the end, she was saved by a colleague ignoring her orders. I also did not get a real sense of place. It felt as though some of the setting came from research rather than experience.Still, the writing is fast-paced and the plot is original

A Desperate Place will be released August 11th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.

A Desperate Place at Crooked Lane Books | Penguin Random House

Jennifer Greer

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2020/07/01/a-desperate-place-by-jenn...… (mere)