Dead Stop-Jamie Denton

Dead Stop
Jamie Denton
Kensington Brava, Sep 2008, $14.00
ISBN: 9780758210166

Serenity Heights Sentinel reporter Ainsley Brennan is concerned with the package that she finds on her desk as there is no return address. The label on the tape inside says: "Day One". She plays the recording to hear tormented female screams. Not long after listening to the harrowing tape, the mutilated corpse of young woman is found in the woods.

Ainsley tries to persuade deputy police chief Beck Raines that this is the beginning; he reluctantly agrees. After burning out as a LAPD homicide detective, he came here for peace and quiet. Now he fears he is working a ritual serial killer case who has just stared with the murder of a freshman and he fears a second murder as another young woman has vanished. Worse he is attracted to the beautiful nosy Ainsley who he worries could be next.

DEAD STOP is an exciting investigative romantic suspense starring two likable competitors falling in love. The subplot of a major conglomerate buying the local paper adds a touch of reality to the fine tale. The killer is somewhat typical of the sub-genre, as the culprit is in plain sight yet able to hide his psychopathic tendencies from everyone. Jamie Denton provides a fun to read police-procedural-journalist investigative romantic thriller as the predator is watching the “Bitch”.

Harriet Klausner