Bree's on her way home conducting a welfare check on a farm down the road that turns out to be a double murder. One of the victims is a former deputy with a questionable background setting off a powder keg of suspects. While investigating Bree, Matt, and Todd are getting targeted by former co workers, the media, and suspects. Bree is also being harassed by anonymous emails and text messages that are sexual and threatening, along with deepfake porn that her face has been photo shopped onto bodies. People are clamoring for her to resign taking focus away from the murders. Turning the murder over to the police gives them another lead on another murder and missing deputy. Explosive and edge of your seat thrills ( )

Dead Agaiinst Her
4 Stars

When a former deputy who resigned in disgrace is the victim of a homicide, Sheriff Bree Taggert learns that she is only one of many who had reason to dislike the man. The suspects range from an ex-wife, a fellow officer, an angry parolee, and various family members. The investigation is further complicated when Bree is targeted by a twisted stranger who threatens to ruin not only her reputation but her family and fledgling romance with Matt Flynn. When her chief deputy vanishes, Bree vows to stop at nothing to locate him and apprehend the killer.

As always, Leigh has written a well-paced and action-packed police procedural. The mystery is intriguing, and it is entertaining to follow along as Bree uncovers the clues. That said, it is possible to guess the culprit when certain facts are revealed, and there is also a definite conflict of interest with Bree investigating the murder of a man she tried to fire; something that is indicated in the book itself.

In terms of the romantic elements, Bree and Matt's relationship is on track, and there are also delightful hints at a romance between Todd and Cady. Hopefully, there will be more page time for them in the future.

On a final personal note - the revenge porn aspects are very disturbing and make my skin crawl. The fact that there are such sick and twisted people out there is scary, and their ability to destroy someone's life so quickly and so easily is horrifying.

Overall, a strong addition to the series and Leigh's plotting and characterization are improving. ( )

A great easy read and an author I will follow. Sheriff Bree, and Matt, her detective boyfriend, follow leads on a double homicide. The two murders included former deputy Eugene Oscar and his mother. Bree was on board when Oscar left the department, during which time he was under investigation for corruption. But since no solid evidence could be found, his official departure from the department was classified as "retired". When she begins uncovering clues to his murder, she finds herself facing intense scrutiny and is accused of being "too close to the case". Although she's established a good public reputation, someone wants her removed from the case. Photoshopped porn videos (using an image similar to Bree) begin cropping up on the internet causing turbulent social media attacks on her character and leading to requests that she be removed from the murder investigation. I enjoyed the characters and all the plot twists. A super entertaining read with suspense to the very end! ( )

I LOVE THIS BOOK! I will definitely look for the next book as I am so addicted!! ( )

"THE BACK OF THE BOOK"
(from the author's website)

Called to an isolated farm to check on an elderly widow, Sheriff Bree Taggert finds a brutal double homicide. One of the victims is Eugene Oscar, the bitter and corrupt former deputy she recently fired.

Working with criminal investigator Matt Flynn, Bree discovers that she isn’t the only one who had a troubling history with Eugene. But someone doesn’t want Bree digging up the past. She becomes the target of a stranger’s sick and devious campaign calculated to destroy her reputation, career, family, and new relationship with Matt. To make matters worse, she’s the prime suspect in Eugene’s murder.

When her chief deputy goes missing while investigating the case, Bree refuses to back down. She won’t let him become the next victim. His life and her future depend on finding a killer nursing a vengeful rage.

I ADMIT TO SOME APPREHENSION
I used this heading last time, and it fits here, too. Maybe "a lot of" would have been better than "some."

Police protagonists becoming the prime suspect almost never works for me—any protagonist/close associate of the protagonist as the prime suspect, really, but it works less when it's a cop for me. The stakes are so low there—you know they're going to be proven innocent the instant you read that in the description, and a lot of the drama associated with their being suspected is going to feel contrived. The fact that it's her former deputy (and I'm so glad to be done with him!) made it even harder for me to swallow.

When you add to that the "campaign calculated to destroy reputation, career," yada yada, I'm really disinclined to dive in. You're not going to find a supervillain waging a campaign against a local sheriff in that part of the world. But that's all due to whoever wrote the promotional material, because "sick and devious campaign" sounds better than "bitter jackwagon out to smear her reputation" (which is what was really going on, nothing as organized as a campaign suggests).

But, I'm a completionist, I was curious, and Leigh's earned a little trust (if nothing else from the way she dealt with the last thing I was apprehensive about), so I read this. And I'm so glad I did: the "campaign" was what I described—making it more believable, more insidious, more relevant, and with actual stakes—and if you're going to make your protagonist someone suspect, both the author and character need to deal with it the way Leigh and Bree do.

Mostly, I need to stop reading the jacket-copy of these books.

CHIEF DEPUTY TODD HARVEY
I've felt this way since book 2 and have stated it when I read 3 and 4—Leigh wasn't giving Chief Deputy Todd Harvey enough to do. Now, here in book 5, she's given him two—count 'em, two—storylines. I grant you, the more important one (in terms of this novel) isn't really what you want to see happen to a character you like—but the execution was great (and it helped with one of the storylines I was nervous about above).

And the one that was less important for this novel is going to stick around for at least a little while, and gives the foundation for more to come—and it shows that Leigh's thinking of doing things with Todd in the books to come.

Phew.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT DEAD AGAINST HER?
This was probably the best of the series so far—it tied up a couple of longer-term stories, pushed some others along in ways that were necessary, and gave us some really good character moments overall.

The case at the center of this was handled really well, too—I liked the way it came together and faked the reader out in just the right way. The mix of local politics, local media, and police work felt genuine and like something that could/would actually happen.

Dead Against Her was an entertaining and satisfying read and made sure that I'm sticking around with this series for a while to come. You should jump on board, I have a feeling it's going to be around for a bit. ( )