7th Heaven by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

A terrible fire in a wealthy suburban home leaves a married couple dead and Detective Lindsay Boxer and her partner Rich Conklin searching for clues. And after California's golden boy, Michael Campion has been missing for a month, there finally seems to be a lead in his case--a very devastating lead.As fire after fire consume couples in wealthy, comfortable homes, Lindsay and the Murder Club must race to find the arsonists responsible and get to the bottom of Michael Campion's disappearance. But suddenly the fires are raging too close to home.Frightened for her life and torn between two men, Lindsay must find a way to solve the most daunting dilemmas she's ever faced--at work and at home.

I've been absolutely hooked on the Women's Murder Club novels, at times devouring a whole book in a day. Reaching book 7 though I'm getting a little worried about the future for my favourite girl detective and her friends.

The books seem to have settled into a formulaic familiarity. Mystery going on in the background which is visited concurrently alongside chapters about an ongoing court case which Yuki the assistant district attorney will be trying. Boxer leads the investigation into the ongoing case while Yuki tries a suspect Boxer has already caught.

Play all the above against the ongoing love triangle between Boxer, Joe and Rich Conklin and the books are losing their sparkle a little. It's mystery writing by numbers and i struggled more with reading this one than any so far. It didn't grip me in the same way and the plot was much weaker.

I pray book 8 is redeeming and that the Joe/Rich indecision moves on as it's getting staid and tired. I had such joy reading the initial books it would be a shame to lose that feeling now.

Picked this up randomly as a ‘blind date with a book'. Will not be going on a second date.
If I'd read one of the other books in the series I may have enjoyed this more. It was interesting enough but I found the split storylines somewhat jarring. There are plot holes and no obvious character development.