Killing Bliss

E.C. Sheedy is a force to be reckoned with. Her characterizations are complete and intriguing. I read her books out of order but they can stand alone.

Ms. Sheedy has penned a very gripping and riviting read that will capture the readers attention from the very beginning. This is a dark story filled with secrets and lies tied to a murder of a woman and a missing baby. Fifteen years later answers are still being sought and before everything is said and done a murder will be unveiled and a romance will bloom. Cade Harding is a retired criminal profiler and instructor. He is trying to put his life back together after the death of his wife from cancer. He is ready to move and get a fresh start when his aunt askes him to help her find her grandson. Seems her daughter had a baby without her knowledge and the child fell into the hands of social services. The baby was placed in a foster home and the day of his placement the foster mother Belle Bliss was murdered. The baby went missing and the murder walked free. Susan wants her grandson back and won't give up. Knowing that she has only one more chance at finding a happy ending she blackmails Cade to help. Cade wades into a murky situation and before long winds up at Star Lake...owned by Addy Michaels. Addy is tied to the events of years past and does what she can to survive and stay in hiding while trying to get past the night that Belle Bliss was killed. Belle was a horrid abusive woman and Addy is not sure what or who killed Belle. She just knows that she must keep her mouth shut about events of the past. That is until the past contacts her. Now she is faced with a horrid situation and turns to the visiting Cade for help. She has no idea that he is there for her, and Cade had no idea that Addy would appeal to him on so many different levels. Now they must work together in order to find out who killed Belle, and what happened to the baby. Will their new found love be able to supprot their journey or will a killer come back to silence Addy once and for all? This was a rather dark read filled with many twists and turns. Ms. Sheedy well defined and developed her characters and as a result the reader is left guess up until the climatic end. This is one author I have no trouble recommending. If you like spine chilling reads with a dash of romance...this is the read for you.

Susan Moore asks her nephew Cade Harding, former head of the Washington State University Criminalist Department and an ex cop, to search for her lost grandson Josh. The widower wants to say no as he still mourns the death of his wife fifteen months ago, but he owes his aunt. Susan explains she cut off her drug using daughter Mariah who died from an overdose, but learned after the death that Mariah had an infant son who was placed in foster care, but vanished when three older foster children killed their host Belle Bliss. Cade learns that Frank Bliss blamed the foster kids (Gus Vanellato, Dianna "Beauty" Lintz, and Addilene "Wart" Wartinski) for killing his mother. The ex-cop meets guilt-laden social worker Wayne Grover who offers little. After talking with Wart's sterile aunt, Cade visits Beauty's dying mom who regrets not marrying her daughter's father, who owns a nearby resort Star Lake. The sleuth travels to the resort where he meets Addy "Wart" Michaels. To their mutual shock Cade and Addy fall in love, but a final confrontation between all the survivors is coming. Readers will commiserate with the intriguing lead heroine and understand Cade's shock to find he is attracted to a woman for the first time since his wife died. Cade's investigation is fabulous to follow as he step by step traces Beauty and Wart. Although the killer comes out of nowhere and Frank is too much an idiot to easily tracks the vanished trio while professional sleuths failed, fans will enjoy this tense romantic suspense. And seek other works by E.C. Sheedy (see PERFECT EVIL and ROOM 33). Harriet Klausner