Murder Gone Cold & Crossfire: A Montana Western Mystery

Outstanding mystery writing, beautifully paced with an intense love story What an amazing set of stories! Murder Gone Cold is a captivating mystery romance that tries to solve a nine-year-old murder case, while Crossfire is a tense, taut action ride that follows a SWAT team dealing with a hostage situation at City Hall. Both stories involve a second-chance romance for the principle characters, with outstanding attention to detail and thoroughly fleshed out story and secondary characters. James is back in his hometown for a short break from the rodeo when he decides to crash in his late father's private investigation office and comes across his father's last case - that of a hit-and-run that killed a young boy. He recognizes Lorelei, the owner of the sandwich shop next door, as the girl he'd crushed on years ago but always figured was way out of his league. The mystery is complex, and the relationship between James and Lorelei is even more complicated. I loved the many layers to the interconnected activities of the night in question, and how nothing is what it seems at first - even when they think they've finally solved the case. There's a shocking, horrifying twist at the end that took me completely by surprise. The romance is equally intense, though it's a slow burn due to the main focus on the investigation. I loved their HEA and how quickly things progressed once the danger was over. Crossfire picks up five years after Flint and Anna broke up, mostly due to his seemingly chauvinistic attitude that interfered with her career goals. Anna is the newest member of Flint's SWAT team and her first day at work finds them both neck-deep in the middle of a volatile hostage situation involving a junkie with no impulse control and a despondent elderly man with suicidal tendencies. And a victim who is another threat all by herself. I loved the way the author uses a tightly-detailed timeframe to build the suspense and create palpable tension. Told in third person from multiple points of view, it makes even the worst villain sympathetic to some degree. Interspersed with the nail-biting action is Flint and Anna separately reminiscing about their earlier romance as they each realize that it's not really over for them. While there are a couple chapters at the end that cover the following weeks, the majority of the action takes place on just one life-changing day. Both stories are standalone romances, but both leave some unanswered questions from their respective cases that will (hopefully) be addressed in future books. The writing is top-notch, as I've come to expect from this author, who tops my list for romances with mystery and suspense. I couldn't have loved this book more. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.