Josh Lanyon’s Winter Kill is a fun romantic suspense set in rural Oregon. FBI Special Agent Adam Darling and sheriff’s deputy Rob Haskell work together to solve a series of murders, and in the process, fall in love.
I enjoyed this book a great deal. Adam and Rob are different enough to be interesting together, and their friction points as a couple feel realistic. The shift from a one-night stand to romance feels, for the most part, believable, although as with many romance novels, it’s never quite clear why the characters find each other perfect/irresistible/the perfect complement. The investigation is interesting and more developed than in many romantic suspense novels. The ending felt rushed, but overall, it was still satisfying. As always with Lanyon’s books, the prose is beautiful, and the characters are deeply human.
Recommended for Lanyon fans in particular and romantic suspense readers in general!

Winter Kill by Josh Lanyon
The Art of Murder Series

GREAT story…and evidently the first in a series that is, hopefully, as good as this book was! Couldn’t put it down once I started reading!

What I liked:
* FBI Agent Adam Darling: professional, focused, intelligent, dealing with the fallout of an assignment that had a bad outcome, has goals, somewhat guarded, someone I wouldn’t mind having as a friend
* Deputy Sheriff Robert Haskell: left the big city for small town police work, dedicated to his community, savvy though protective, not always able to see evil where it might lurk, a good man.
* Watching the relationship develop between Adam and Rob
* Feeling that Adam and Rob were good together and had a future together as a couple
* Sheriff Francesca McLellan “Frankie”: top dog at the Nearby Sheriff’s department, knows her town and her staff, a good leader, intriguing woman
* Small town setting with quirky intriguing characters
* The plot, writing, and character development
* The police procedural aspects of the story
* The creep-factor of the evil crimes being perpetrated
* How the evil was unearthed and sussing out who was behind the murders
* That there was a HEA for the main couple
* That the cases were tied up and the story complete when the book ended.

What I didn’t like:
* Exactly who and what I was meant not to like
* The senseless murders and loss of innocent lives

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Definitely

Thank you to NetGalley and JustJoshin Publishing Inc. for the ARC – This is my honest review.

Five Stars