Cross Her Heart

By: Melinda Leigh

Narrated by: Christina Traister

Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

A homicide detective’s violent family history repeats itself in #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh’s novel of murder, secrets, and retribution.

For more than twenty-five years, Philadelphia homicide detective Bree Taggert has tucked away the nightmarish childhood memories of her parents’ murder-suicide.... Until her younger sister, Erin, is killed in a crime that echoes that tragic night: innocent witnesses and a stormy marriage that ended in gunfire. There’s just one chilling difference. Erin’s husband, Justin, has vanished.

Bree knows how explosive the line between love and hate can be, yet the evidence against her troubled brother-in-law isn’t adding up. Teaming up with Justin’s old friend, former sheriff’s investigator and K-9 handler Matt Flynn, Bree vows to uncover the secrets of her sister’s life and death, as she promised Erin’s children. But as her investigation unfolds, the danger hits close to home. Once again, Bree’s family is caught in a death grip. And this time, it could be fatal for her.

©2020 by Melinda Leigh. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Had potential, but...

Narration was bad for Matt. "He" sounded severely depressed no matter what was taking place. I couldn't respect him. Also, there wasn't any chemistry between Bree and Matt. Disappointed.

3 people found this helpful

Good

I really enjoy Melinda Leigh’s books.This was just as good as the rest.Can’t wait to read the rest

Promising

If this book is an indication of the series, it is going to be one of Ms Leigh’s best. I appreciated the relationships of the main characters. The children behaved age appropriate, Bree and Matt are good together. Then there is Brody, what’s not to like.

Worth the listen

This is a new series so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Set in upstate NY and hours away from Philadelphia, PA, where Detective Bree Taggert lives and works. She gets a frantic vm from her sister and, after not being able to reach her...heads to her hometown of Grey’s Hollow. Bree arrives at her sister’s house only to learn that she’s been murdered...and her husband is a person of interest...and he’s missing. Bree teams up with her brother-in-law’s best friend, a former sheriff’s deputy, to get to the truth. Throw in some kids, an eccentric artist brother, and a preacher and you have quite the drama. Not to mention the traumatic events from Bree’s childhood.
Good start to this series.

Awesome! Thanks for a ⭐️GREAT NARRATOR⭐️!!

I enjoy Melinda Leigh’s books. She is a fanatic author that creates wonderful characters and plots that are hard to put down. I listened to this book in less than 24 hours and loved every second of it! I’m thankful for Christina Traister’s outstanding narration. Unfortunately for me, there has been several of Leigh’s books I’ve had been forced to bypass due to the choice of narrator, specifically Cris Dukehart. I know many people may disagree but Dukehart’s voice is like nails on a chalkboard to my ears, so if you’re like me do not fear Christina Traister has a great voice and a talent for both female and male characters. She uses inflection, emotion, and cadence to bring the the majority of the pcharacters to life. However, Matt’s character was very monotone and needed some personality. Matt is a former police officer that had his career ended in the line of duty and still is dealing with the shooting and trying to figure out what’s next for himself. I think his character was interpreted as being depressed and I’m hopeful in the next book the narrator reads his character with more personality. I still rate the narration with 5 stars as I think there was a reason Matt was monotone and once the book got going I did not find his character detracting. I can not wait for the next book in this new series and my fingers are crossed for Christina Traister to narrate! The book is worth a credit. Plus if you have Kindle Unlimited it is free to borrow so stop reading review and get this book today!

WONDERFUL BEGINNING OF A NEW SERIES!!!!

This was an excellent story! I couldn't stop listening. As usual, Christina Traister seems to start very slow and it makes me wish that someone else was the narrator. HOWEVER, with that being said, "as usual" as the story progresses, Ms.Traister gets better and better. I don't know if she relaxes as she gets into book and settles down but I find that I really enjoy her performance more and more. But going back to the story, I think it's one of Melinda Leigh's best. I'm not a fan of her 1-3 hour Novella series at all. I don't think they are worth the credit. But this is a perfect length and the pace is magnificent...it never drags.

I see that the second book in this series isn't available but I sincerely hope it is added very soon. I especially hope that Melinda will continue adding future releases to this wonderful story. I highly recommend this one!

Very good mystery with likable characters. I highly recommend the Audible version.

I enjoyed this murder mystery, which is also a semi-police procedural—mostly because the protagonists aren’t local Law Enforcement Officers (LEO). Bree Taggart is a Philly Homicide cop, who returned to her hometown to find her sister murdered. Matt Flynn is a former sheriff’s investigator and K9 officer, gravely wounded by friendly fire in a botched LEO-led operation.

I liked that most suspects were credible, except for a too-bloody red-herring. I’m glad this book concentrated on the mystery, leaving a possible romance for future books. The author paid attention to details of characterization and the milieux. Although, that said, the setting and secondary characters are reminiscent of Melinda Leigh’s Scarlet Falls series, which was too romance driven for me. I was pleased that loose threads were tied off, unlike several other Leigh books.

I knocked off a star, because the culprit’s motive, actions and rational seemed contrived, and not very organic to the storyline. It didn’t help that the culprit’s POV chapters were weaker than that of the protagonists—which made culprit’s final actions less believable.

The Audible version is excellently voiced by narrator Christina Traister, who made the book come alive for me. Brava, Christina Traister!

Good read and narration..

Good murder mystery and I was surprised at who the killer was. The time spent in the 2-story salon was very exciting. The players were good, too: Matt and Bree, Bree’s niece and nephew Luke and Kayla, and Bree’s partner Dana. And I was really happy about what happened to Craig.

Even though Bree and Matt had some chemistry and were going to date there was not a single kiss. That was a bummer. BUT the F-bomb was used 13 times.

As to the narration: I like Christina Traister reading abilities, her men’s voices are great. BUT when Matt spoke it was droll and boring sounding, no feelings whatsoever. BUT at least it sounded like a man.

Fantastic thriller!!

This is such a thriller!! I absolutely loved it.
I was hooked from the beginning till the last page. My heart broke from Bree and the tragedy she had to endure when she was little to yet another tragedy her family had to again endure.
I couldn’t figure out who the killer was and let me tell you, trust no one and question everyone!

I listened to the audiobook and I very much enjoyed it. The narrator is perfect for Bree’s voice.

Great book

A very good read. First in a new series, Melinda is one of my favorite writers. Good story, good characters. Hope we don’t have to wait long for the next one.