4 stars for a welcome addition to this police procedural series set in the remote Texas border with Mexico. I started reading this series 6 years ago when I won book 4 in the series, Firebreak I enjoyed it and have been reading the series in order since then. This is book 3 in the series. In this book, Dillon Reese, the only accountant in the fictional town of Artemis, Texas, is kidnapped. Josie Gray is the police chief of the 3 person force. She is in a relationship with Dillon. Dillon's secretary, Christina Handley, is found shot dead in his office.
There are several elements in this book:
The murder of Christina
Kidnapping of Dillon
Involvement of the Medrano drug cartel
A local shady junkyard dealer in wrecked cars
Josie, Otto Podowski and Marta Cruz are the 3 Artemis officers. They do solve the case, with help from the FBI, Sheriff Roy Martinez and a private hostage negotiator, hired by Josie.
If you like strong woman characters as found in books by Sue Grafton, Nevada Barr and Linda Castillo, then you will enjoy this series. Both my wife and I like this series.
One quote: "Forest Glen Apartments was located on a downtown street, three blocks over from the county courthouse, with one small pine tree at the center of a grassy strip in front of the complex. The building was a one-story stucco, painted a garish blue, with the eight apartment doors painted Pepto-Bismol pink."
I read this library book in 3 days. I had to get it through inter library loan, which was shut down for a while last year during the Covid crisis.