Mmm, I give this book three stars with reservations.

The story is set in Pueblo, Colorado - oh, err, I mean Tesoro ;) - and that, above all else, was what I enjoyed about this book. I lived in the high desert of Colorado (although on the other side of the divide) for four and a half years, and reading this book made me miss it terribly. There's a lot of "place" here in the book - those gorgeous night skies, the low humidity, even the chili festival - and that is what I liked above all else.

Abbott, at least in the two books (and one novella) that I've read by her, tends to tell and not show, and that really prevents me from immersing myself in the story. This book isn't an exception, unfortunately. Instead of actually feeling the characters' emotions, I just get told about them. And I don't like it. When I read books in this genre, I want to feel and experience. Make me laugh, make me cry, make me do both at the same time - whatever. Just don't make me bored. And even though there were some great aspects that could, and honestly should, have made me feel something - it just didn't click at all.

And Jean, who is the deputy County Attorney, tends to go overboard with the legal mumbo jumbo. I seriously almost set the book down, never to be picked up, because of the tsunami of legal jargon in the first few chapters (hang on, readers, the book does get better from there). I know that the author was (or is?) an attorney, so I get that she knows her stuff, etc, etc, but...summarize. I don't need a textbook or an in-depth treatise on county law.

I'm not sure if I will pick up something else by this author again, but, as I said, I did enjoy the Colorado authenticity that this book has to it. ( )

Other than some zombie short story I have no idea how to find, I've apparently just completed the last thing currently published by Abbott. That was a quickish leap through her work. I seem to be on something of a run here. At least in terms of 'completing' authors who I had just started. I recall two of the top of my head, at least. Well, three now with Abbott. J.A. Armstrong, and Lynn Galli being the other two I started and completed relatively quickly. Well, there is that one short story collection by Galli I haven't yet read.

This specific book here: the book was interesting and kept my attention throughout most of it. Though, oddly, I got kind of bored when all the various threads - the mystery, and the romantic ones, started to get wrapped up.

I was thinking while reading the book, that it had something of a mixture of Abbott's prior works. Both her romance, and her three book romantic intrigue series. I believe they are all in Colorado, but I don't mean that. The characters were mostly unique, as in no repeats. Which is good. I'm not really sure what I mean by 'a mixture', but it was a vibe I had picked up along the way.

I do know, though, that in terms of the mystery, this book here is less of a mystery than a romance. Compared with the CJ & Alex series. And much more of a mystery than the one romance book. Oh, and that's another thing. I entered my reading of Abbott with the odd thought that she normally wrote romances, but turned towards adding mystery to her books. When I was looking over her books today, or yesterday, I was actually shocked when I realized that there is actually only one out-and-out romance. Well, the mysteries have romances, but I mean that there's just one book that's purely romance.

Now in terms of ratings. Hmms. I was thinking that the book seemed like a solid enough four star book. Though, it started to slip there. I'll go ahead and give it four stars now, while leaving myself the option of rethinking my rating. Heh, I say that as if I don't always reserve the right to fiddle with my ratings.

Mmphs. Now I have to find yet another author to tackle, subdue, and gobble all of their books. Mmphs. Well, it's not like I'll ever come close to running out of possible books.

(by the way, I felt the need to write that above stuff while I was actually still reading the book. Maybe the last four percent will move the rating one way or another, eh? heh. Unlikely, that. I just felt the need to write right then and there (actually, it turns out that the last four percent did solidify my decision to rate this 4 stars)). ( )