The 3rd installment of the Bree Taggart series, Drown Her Sorrows finds Bree trying to balance her demanding job as sheriff with her new family responsibilities of raising her dead sister’s kids (with the help of her former partner, Dana, reestablishing a relationship with her brother Adam (estranged since their shared childhood trauma), and her budding relationship with investigator Matt Flynn.

On her way home, Bree is called out to the scene of an apparent suicide. Evidently, Holly Thorpe jumped from a bridge into the river but the medical examiner finds no water in her lungs. Sever strong subject ms emerge: Holly had a tumultuous marriage, a contentious relationship with her sister, and may be having an affair with her boss and involved in his shady dealings. To find the killer, Bree and Matt must follow many twists and turns and the eventual revelation of the killer was a total surprise!

I really enjoyed this entry in the series and I love when I can’t guess who the killer is halfway through a mystery. Plus, it was nice to see Bree’s personal growth and the progression of her budding relationships with her family and Matt.

The only complaint I have is that I feel Melinda Leigh’s knowledge of police procedures could be stronger, but that is a small nit compared my enjoyment of the overall story. Thank you to Netgalley, Montkake, and Melinda Leigh for the ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆☆
M/F Murder Mystery

I have enjoyed all of the Bree Taggert stories thus far. She is a strong, smart, and caring woman who is amazing at her job. With her department in need of funds, she knows that she’ll have to play politics at some point, but the committee keeps putting her off – they don’t want her in the sheriff’s position. But when an apparent suicide turns in to something much more sinister, it will take Bree, Matt, and Bree’s entire force to figure out who the culprit is.

This story keeps you guessing. I normally am able to figure out a lot of the mystery as the story unfolds, but this one had me guessing until the reveal, which I absolutely love!

The characters are complex and unique, but still, as a reader, you’re able to relate to them.

I hope more stories are to come, because I want to see the one deputy under Bree go down!

Sheriff Bree Taggert investigates when a woman's body is found floating near a river bank. A note in the victim's car intimates that was a probable suicide. But the medical examiner finds that she was dead before she hit the water.

Bree and her investigator, Matt Flynn, find only more questions as they look into the victim's life. She was in a bad marriage, had problems with her sister, and an employer who she was seeing on the side. They all had a motive for murder.

The woman's sister is being stalked and then the prime suspect turns up dead. So where do Matt and Bree go from here?

This is an excellent addition to a compelling series. Although 3rd in the series, it is easily read as a stand alone. However, I do recommend reading in order. The suspense starts from the very first page. A major twist leads to an unexpected conclusion. There are many suspects, and much action.

Many thanks to the author / Amazon Publishing / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Drown Her Sorrows is the third book in Melinda Leigh’s Bree Taggert Series. This is a romantic suspense novel (heavy on the suspense) with a great storyline and fantastic characters. It is a slow burn romance that is meant to build throughout the series.

When an autopsy reveals that Holly Thorpe did not die by suicide as her note suggested, Sheriff Bree Taggert brings in Investigator Matt Flynn to help her out on the case. However, the sudden death of Holly’s boss and the stalking of her sister brings even more questions. Can Bree and Matt solve the murders before someone close to them becomes the next victim? Read it and find out!

This is another great addition to the Leigh’s Bree Taggert Series. She is a phenomenal writer, who’s story telling ability keeps you hanging as you go page by page. Leigh has created a storyline and a cast of characters that draws you in and leave you craving more. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series to see how Matt and Bree’s budding relationship develops.

This is a voluntary review of a reader’s advance copy received from netgalley.

Drown Her Sorrows by Melinda Leigh is the 3rd book in the Bree Taggert mystery series, and another great addition. Bree Taggert is the sheriff, and while conducting a search she discovers a young women's body near the banks of a river. The note found in the women's car suggest suicide, but the coroner disagrees. Bree and Matt, her investigator, are on the case. I found this book to be fast-paced, and like a roller coaster ride with surprises around every curve. This book has a well developed plot and characters. I strongly recommend this book and series to all mystery lovers, like me. You won't be disappointed. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

In Drown Her Sorrows, the third in the Bree Taggert series by Melinda Leigh, Bree is now the Sheriff. With the help of Matt Flynn, her Investigator and maybe boyfriend, they work to solve the mystery surrounding two deaths. Holly Thorpe is the first body found in the water under a bridge. Days later, her boss Paul Beckett is shot to death. Through the many twists and turns, Bree and Matt work to not only solve the mystery of the two deaths, but also tie them together.

Melinda Leigh's style of writing sucks me in from the first page. I imagine she writes the way she talks. Very straight forward and descriptive without the over the top explanations and wasted words some authors use. Her books are easy to read and keep me guessing all the way through. I find them very difficult to put down!

I stumbled across author Melinda Leigh with the first book in this series, Cross Her Heart. I plowed through the second book and then read the entire Morgan Dane series. As you can tell, I'm hooked on this author. While anxiously awaiting this book, I was lucky enough to receive an ARC in exchange for my honest review and am grateful to the author, publisher and NetGalley for that privilege.

This is the third book in the Bree Taggert series and I’ll always love the Morgan Dane series best, but these characters have really grown on me. And I feel the author does a good job keeping them true to themselves. While the characters grow deeper, they stay true to what they believe in.

This story centers on a body found in the river. There are twists and turns that I did not expect and like how the secondary characters get as much chance to grow as the main characters.

I recommend this book for crime fans. And while this book can be read alone, I suggest starting the series from the beginning.

Drown Her Sorrows by Melinda Leigh is the 3rd book in her Bree Taggert series. The book is very well written. The storyline is unique, enjoyable, and keeps you guessing. Very fast-paced and suspenseful. You won't want to put it down! Highly recommend this and all of Melinda's books!

A big thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book, the opinions are my own. This is part of a series, but reads well as a stand alone, although to be honest I think they read better in order. These are wonderful mysteries with twists and unexpected curves. Sheriff Bree is a conflicted person, and her relationship with Matt is interesting. Great story surprised me!! Enjoyable read. 4 stars

Excellent!! First Ms. Leigh dedicated the book to her pup Ladybug, which Ladybug has a role as Bree dog and everything about her makes you smile. Second there was a cross over from Lance and Morgan (they are so happy in their family). I hope Bree and Morgan meet, I can see them being friends. Finally, I thought I had figured out the killer and I was so wrong!! Didn’t see that ending!! 5 stars!!

This third book in Melinda Leigh’s series of romantic suspense novels featuring former detective-turned-Sheriff Bree Taggert is another entertaining read that boasts a cleverly constructed mystery and a set of strongly-defined characters.  Bree is becoming more settled into her new life and responsibilities, and she’s trying to deal with some of her long-standing trust issues; I like the way the author dovetails Bree’s work and home life into her stories. But while the mystery is nice and twisty, I didn’t find it quite as compelling as those in the first two books in the series.

When Drown Her Sorrows opens, Bree is heading home after a long day and is looking forward to eating with her family and reading her young niece Kayla a bedtime story.  She’s in sight of her late sister’s farmhouse when she gets a call from one of her deputies advising her there’s an abandoned car by the river, and although there’s a purse and phone inside, there’s no sign of the driver.  It transpires that the car is registered to Holly Thorpe, a resident of Gray’s Hollow – and it’s been there for around three days.  Holly’s husband says he hasn’t seen Holly since she stormed out after they had a fight three nights earlier, and Bree walks down to the river while waiting for the search and rescue team to arrive.  She’s not gone far along the riverbank when she finds the body of a woman matching Holly’s description.  The presence, in the boot of the car, of a note that says “I can’t anymore.  It’s too hard.”  would seem to point towards Holly’s death being suicide – but the ME’s findings indicate that Holly was dead before she hit the water, and that she died as a result of compression to the neck.  Bree is looking for a murderer.

Former K9 handler Matt Flynn - who was invalided out of the department after he was shot in the line – now works as an investigator and consultant to the sheriff’s department.  He and Bree have been slowly working their way around to exploring the attraction that sparked between them when they first met, and by the time this book opens, they’re in a relationship and have decided to see where things might go.   He and Bree work together very well and I really enjoy their working dynamic;  Bree admits that her focus can be too narrow, and she needs someone like Matt at her back, someone who can see things she might have missed and more than anything, someone she can trust implicitly.

Bree and Matt open their investigation by questioning Holly’s husband; the Thorpe’s marriage was incredibly volatile, with frequent rows that often saw Holly storming out to go and stay with her sister, and their financial situation was precarious owing to their living beyond their means as well as having to pay towards the medical costs for Holly’s mother, who has Stage 4 cancer.  These costs are split with Holly’s sister Shannon, although, as Owen Thorpe sees it, not fairly, given that Shannon lives in a much bigger house and has a much nicer lifestyle than he and Holly did.  More digging reveals that Holly may have been having an affair with her boss at the construction company she worked for, and also that the firm was in serious financial trouble.  Bree and Matt follow up with Holly’s boss, who is obnoxious and uncooperative, which raises all sorts of red flags.  But when he’s gunned down outside his own home shortly after, another avenue of investigation into Holly’s death is closed off – and Bree has to consider the fact that the two murders may be linked.

The mystery is intriguing and the investigation is well-paced with a skilful twist near the end I didn’t see coming until I was on top of it.  Bree is coming into her own and has gained the trust of those around her, especially her chief deputy with whom she had a bit of a rocky relationship for a while.  I like her a lot; she’s hardworking, strong-willed and intuitive, and she’s slowly starting to realise that she can’t go it alone all the time and learning to trust the team she’s building around her.

And then there are Bree’s personal relationships; her past trauma (she was just eight years old when her father shot her mother and then himself; she protected her younger siblings, but grew up apart from them when they went to live with one relative and Bree another) isn’t something she’s dealt with all that well, and growing up apart from her siblings has left a mark, meaning she has to work hard at maintaining personal relationships and learn not to run from them, especially if they could expose her vulnerability.  She learned early on that the only person she could rely on was herself, but she’s trying hard to put the past behind her now, for her own sake and for that of her new found family; her sister’s death has left her guardian to her two children, Luke and Kayla, and has also enabled her to reconnect with her younger brother, Adam.  And then there’s Matt; lovely, solid, dependable (and sexy) Matt, who has Bree’s back without question and who is falling for her, hard. He respects her professionalism and he’s a calming presence, quietly reminding Bree that she’s allowed to be human rather than a full-time hero.  Their relationship is progressing slowly, partly because Bree doesn’t want to be the subject of yet more gossip (she’s had enough of that to last a lifetime), and partly because she’s still adjusting to the massive changes her life has gone through over the past few months.  I enjoy these insights into Bree as a person as much as I enjoy her as investigator, and Ms. Leigh strikes a good balance between the two; the mystery is undoubtedly the main focus of the book, but Bree’s home life is richly detailed, the characters are rounded and the relationships are well-written.

Even though the mystery in Drown Her Sorrows isn’t quite as enthralling as those in previous books, it’s clever and well-written, and I really enjoyed the continuing development of Bree’s character and relationships.  At a pinch, it could probably be read as a standalone, but I’d strongly suggest going back to book one, Cross Her Heart, so as to gain a fuller understanding of Bree and her situation. In any case, Drown Her Sorrows earns a solid recommendation, and fans of the author and the series are sure to find much to enjoy within its pages.

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What a wild ride! As this Bree Taggert series continues, I find myself really invested in Bree and her character development and growth. This book starts with the identification of a car abandoned at a bridge and the owner missing, later to be found dead. As Bree works with her boyfriend Matt to find out not only who murdered the woman, but how, the questioning leads her down a crazy path with so many twists and turns. This storyline was wild – it wasn’t until the end where I found out that I was wrong in my assumption of who was behind the murder, but I couldn’t stop guessing as one murder morphed into more, all stemming back to the original murder. While Bree and Matt work to investigate, we also see how Bree has taken charge of the department and is starting to gain respect of some of the staff while also working to educate the others, and she is starting to be motherly towards her niece and nephew and have a makeshift family with her previous partner and her brother. In the end, Bree gets injured and someone in Matt’s life is targeted, and it’s a race to beat the clock to keep everyone safe and solve not only the original murder, but all of the murders and crime that started from the first one. This storyline was epic, and between that and the character growth for Bree I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I can’t wait for the next installment to see what happens next in town as well as see if Bree decides to face her childhood home with her brother!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

I received a copy of this from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

"Drown Her Sorrows" is a wonderful addition to Melinda Leigh's works. I've followed the author for a number of years and I know from her social media posts that she spends a lot of time in writer academies specializing in police tactics. It's this knowledge that comes out in the books she writes, making the reading fascinating as you do feel like you're actually following along on a case and also trying to solve it with the main character. (As a reader of many of Ms. Leigh's books, I had part of this one figured it out but did not expect the twist ending that made the book better.) I recommend this third installment of the Bree Taggert series (of which I've read the first two) as definitely worth the read.

First, I want to say that this amazing third book in the Sheriff Bree Taggert series is a book that once I finished it, I wanted to read it all over again. Bree is a strong woman who survived a horrific childhood, was separated from her younger siblings and her sister murdered. Living with her sister’s two children and reunited with her younger brother she is the sheriff of Grey Hollow, New York. A woman’s body is found staged to appear as a suicide. Bree and her criminal investigator, Matt Flynn, determine quickly that the woman was murdered. Thus, begins a complex police procedural that will keep you guessing until the end. Bree, Matt and her team take the reader through the investigative process which is fascinating as they reveal new evidence. I have read, and really enjoyed, all of the books in this series as well as the Morgan Dane, Widow’s Island and Rogue River series. I highly recommend Ms. Leigh to those who are interested in a story with fascinating characters and a mystery begging to be solved. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

Another excellent story in this series. I love that she mingles characters from her other books in. It’s nice to get a little glimpse of them. This story kept me guessing; I didn’t figure it out until the end. Can’t wait for more of Bree and Matt! Thanks for the opportunity to read this early.

Unputdownable and breathtaking. Melinda Leigh does it again and hits it out of the park. I adore the characters in these books, I love even more that there is a small overlap into Morgan Danes story! This book was fast paced and suspenseful while still carrying with it a wholesome family side, dogs included! Even a dash of budding romance. I could not put this down. There were so many twists and turns you couldn’t even guess at what was coming. The ending was jaw dropping. Absolute blindside.
I eagerly await the next Melinda Leigh book!

I love Melinda Leigh! She's never disappointed me. Drown Her Sorrows is the 3rd book in the Bree Taggert series. Bree is still settling into life with her niece and nephew after the death of their mother, Bree's sister. She is also adjusting to her role as Sheriff and her developing relationship with Matt Flynn, which is progressing quite nicely, thank you very much! When a woman (Holly) is found along the river shore under the bridge, the initial thought is that it was a suicide but within hours it is ruled a homicide. During the early days of the investigation Holly's boss is shot and killed and Bree is wounded. Melinda Leigh deftly leads us through the evidence and the course the case is taking. Bree and Matt are trying to connect the two deaths when Matt's sister Cady is kidnapped! What's going on? Who's the killer? You'll have to read the book to find out!
I enjoyed the steady logical course of the investigation, the author kept my attention throughout. I really like the way the romance between Matt and Bree is progressing...slowly but surely. Real. I recommend this book if you like good romantic suspense.
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Great book, writing and mystery interesting characters Melinda never disappoints in thrillers. The story was had great pacing and kept me guessing until the end.

This is a thrilling mystery that hits close to home for Bree and Matt. The suspense is kept simmering throughout with twists and turns I surely didn’t see coming. I love that Bree is finally becoming more comfortable with her new role in the family and her slowly developing relationship with Matt. I truly enjoy this series and though this is the third in the series it can be read standalone just fine.

4 Stars
Melinda Leigh has us being a fly on the wall with her character, Bree Taggert as she goes about discovering a death that has been staged as a suicide but is really a homicide. Things get messy when all of the suspects have ties to Bree.