Traces of Guilt

De: Dee Henderson

Narrado por: Johanna Parker

Evie Blackwell loves her life as an Illinois state police detective...mostly. She's very skilled at investigations and has steadily moved up through the ranks. She would like to find Mr. Right, but she has a hard time imagining how marriage could work, considering the demands of her job.

Gabriel Thane is a lifetime resident of Carin County and now its sheriff, a job he loves. Gabe is committed to upholding the law and cares deeply for the residents he's sworn to protect. He, too, would like to find a lifetime companion, a marriage like his parents have.

When Evie arrives in Carin, Illinois, it's to help launch a new task force dedicated to reexamining unsolved crimes across the state. Spearheading this trial run, Evie will work with the sheriff's department on a couple of its most troubling missing-person cases. As she reexamines old evidence to pull out a few tenuous new leads, she unearths a surprising connection...possibly to a third cold case.

Evie's determined to solve the cases before she leaves Carin County, and Sheriff Thane, along with his family, will be key to those answers.

©2016 Dee Henderson (P)2016 Recorded Books

Can't wait for the next one!

This is the best book I have read in a long time! Check it out!

Great read

I have read many of Dee Hendersons books and now listened to them; I have never been disappointed!

Glad when it was over

I love long stories. Like over 10 hours. Helps me to 'know" & care about the characters. But this one ... no. The author over-explains, and throws in trivial, unessential details I could not care less about. She can repeat herself. Then the characters were unbelievable. You've got a character named Ann I think who is like a wise Yoda, expression sage counseling. Like all the time! I really don't remember the ending at all. I just wanted it to be done.

Very intense but worth the angst

The narration was excellent. My main criteria for narration is that if it basically disappears into the story it’s perfect, and that’s exactly what happened here. This story was almost too real in its way of presenting the sadness involved in so many crimes, especially cold cases. I really like the puzzle solving aspect and the myriad of possibilities different facts and puzzle pieces bring to mind in the investigators’ minds. Lots of twists and turns and human emotions.

Good story, bad narration

I really like what I was able to listen to of the story. Unfortunately we were unable to continue because we could not stand the narrator 's style

Christian Characters Dealing with Darkness

I’ve been a mystery and crime novel fan for decades and often wondered how people dealing with crisis do so without Faith to get them through it. Henderson does a nice job of demonstrating how Christians lean on each other, their beliefs, and prayer. The storylines are interesting, yet quite sad. I look forward to seeing how relationships between the characters develop and more interesting mysteries are solved.

4/5 Stars: Traces of Guilt by Dee Henderson

*Will attempt to keep spoiler free
Summary:
Lieutenant Evie Blackwell, a state cop, investigates a cold case as part of her working vacation. Her friend Ann Falcon is angling to get her an invite to a task force specifically meant to look into such cases.

Additional Comments:
• I’m guessing Ann Falcon’s a main character in a different series. I’m a little out of the loop when it comes to Dee Henderson books.
• Evie’s a cool character. The Thane family’s sweet, like deep South sweet tea sweet. But it’s cool.
• Plot’s kind of ambitious as each of the Thane brothers (Josh, Will, and Gabriel) has a lady of interest and the subplot surrounding her. Gabriel’s the sheriff. Of Josh and Will, I’m not sure which was the combat medic (I think it’s Will) and which was the farmer (Josh?), but anyway, one’s trying to woo a chef named Karen with a scary past. The other is trying to help his childhood friend heal from her traumas. Meanwhile, Evie’s helping Gabriel with a cold case about a deputy who went missing with his family 12 years ago.
• The Karen plotline kinda got dropped, but that’s not surprising with so much going on. I get the feeling it’s supposed to be a thread that will carry through several books and eventually wrap up, sort of a whole series subplot.
• I really like Ann but the first portion of the book where she has a few infuriating conversations with Gabriel almost made me quit. Pretty sure she stays cryptic for about 10 minutes straight and the entire conversation boils down to: will ask for a big favor from your brother, encourage him to do it.
• It’s not a typical mystery, closer to a cozy mystery. It’s not even really about the mystery, that’s a subplot. The book centers on the large cast of characters and their personal lives. It’s compelling as a character piece, but not necessarily as a plot piece.
• Having it be about cold cases removes some of the immediacy and danger, which threatens the suspense. It’s still a good book, but it’s just not as fast-paced as I’ve come to expect from mysteries.
• Audio performance was okay. Heard better. Heard worse. The men sounded mostly the same to me, but I was listening to it on a faster clip than normal speech, which might have contributed to that. Ann’s dialogue tended to end on a higher pitch. It helped distinguish, but the tendency to have sentences end high got distracting.

Conclusion:
If I’m comparing to other Dee Henderson books, I’d say it fits in somewhere in the middle. It’s not her best work. It’s not her worst work. She’s always had a knack for creating awesome characters. This story demonstrates that skill. Where it fell short for me was the level of satisfaction with the mystery’s conclusion.

overall a great listen

Love this narrator, easy listen. First time with the Author and wasnt expecting any religious undertones but I understand its part of the characters.
Great overall! listening to the next in the series now!

Well written

I loved this book. It was very interesting and kept my attention all the way through the story.

Excellent Book!!

I really enjoyed this one, and I expected no less than excellence from Dee Henderson. Great story, heart-wrenching, with bittersweet and joyful moments, intelligent storyline, captivating from beginning to end. Fantastic listen.