4.5 Stars

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A REVISED EDITION OF A BOOK FIRST PUBLISHED AS “A NARROW RETURN.”

Her retirement has lasted all of a year and a half and now she's back. Although no longer a DI, she is working as a consult for the Police Headquarters. She has a new team and she's being given cold, cold murder cases which have never been solved.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to go back. But solving crimes is irresistible for Hillary Greene. And it doesn’t hurt that her new boss is devastatingly handsome.

Her first case is 20 years old. Anna McRae was found dead in her home, beaten to death with a rolling pin. She was a wife and mother of three children ... but since she was having an affair with her sister's husband, the sister was the prime suspect. But it could never be proven. After 20 years, whatever leads the detectives had once had have turned ice cold.

While she and her team start painstakingly putting together a new case and re-investigating the friends and families of Ms. McRae, she finds that the victim had many more secrets that were never brought to light.

What also emerges is that Hillary has a stalker. First her locker is broken into and a comb goes missing. She receives roses hand delivered to her office. A Valentine and a book of poems are next.

Can Hillary solve a fiendishly complex case from the past while fending off unwanted attention?

HIllary still has the same sharp, feisty edges she has always had. Popular with rank and file, she's no-nonsense and extremely competent in her job. Her new team consists of an older retired Sergeant who has heard of Hillary's reputation and is eager to work with her. Because of budget cuts, the other two members are civilians ... they do the grunt work to free up detectives to do the 'real' work. The young man is greener than green, but is promising in his eagerness to learn from Hillary. The other is a young woman who has designs on the boss and really doesn't want another woman around.

Great characters all around with lots of twists and turns make this crime thriller an exceptional addition to the series.

Many thanks to the author / Joffe Books / Books n All Book Promotions / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

In this twelfth instalment, Hillary returns to work as a civilian consultant looking into cold cases, having found 18 months of retirement more than enough. No longer being an actual police officer is an adjustment, although other things are refreshingly the same: Hillary still has her bell-shaped hair cut (I find this very intriguing - kicking out at the bottom all round??) and every heterosexual male she encounters is of course attracted to her. I enjoyed her stroppy young assistant Vivienne and the plot was a decent one, although an awful lot of "man" hours seemed to be going into one 20 year old cold case, even if it was an unsolved murder. Hillary's stalker is rather alarming.

Still enjoying these very much.