Threads of Suspicion by Dee Henderson - Christian Fiction Review

Hey, look at me. I'm staying on top of my reading this month. I'm utilizing my time nursing/pumping since there's not much else I can do anyway. My fiction book for May is Threads of Suspicion by Dee Henderson. This is the 2nd book in the Evie Blackwell Cold Case series. (The first book is Traces of Guilt.)

Y'all know I love me some Dee Henderson. All of her most recent books are connected by the characters Ann and Paul Falcon (from Full Disclosure which I reviewed here). Threads of Suspicion is the 2nd book that follows Evie Blackwell, an Illinois State Police detective who has been appointed as part of a missing persons task force. Evie and her new partner David work together on a pair of seemingly unrelated cases in a Chicago suburb. Evie's case involves a missing college student. As they untangle the threads of these cases they find that things are more connected than they once thought. During all of this, Evie is also trying to work through some personal issues in her life.

Let's start out by saying that this, like the previous book, is not a suspense novel as many of Dee Henderson's earlier books were. I wouldn't even consider it a whodunit, but I don't want to ruin the ending by explaining that too much. I really enjoyed Evie's character. She's complex, especially in that she stays so upbeat in spite of the horrible things she sees in her job. She enjoys the puzzle of solving a crime, but is also compassionate for the victims. I also enjoyed David's character although his relationship with his fiance is a bit strange for me. I'm not sure I liked how Henderson handled the relationship between a believer (David) and a nonbeliever (his fiance Maggie). I'll have to see how it plays out later. I think Henderson is going to give Evie a different partner in each book to explore the other members of the task force, but hopefully we still get glimpses of past characters. I also wasn't really sure how I felt about Evie's relationship with her boyfriend Rob. He grew on me this book, but I spent most of the last book disliking him so it's hard for me to jump on the Team Rob bandwagon. Dee Henderson has always done well with character development and forcing her characters to go through some really challenging things. That is the main driving point of the book since most of the mystery is solved through solid police work and not crazy chases or epic showdowns. I really look forward to seeing how she develops this main character further in future books.

I really enjoyed this book, but like all of her recent books, it's not particularly fast-paced. It has taken me a while to adjust to this new method of story telling from Henderson, but I'm more prepared for it than I was when I read Full Disclosure. If you like Henderson's books you'll enjoy this one too.

Thank you to Bethany House Publishers for providing me with a copy of this book to review. All opinions, however, are my own.