Cold Conviction

Aspen Adams is going back home. Her sister, Rosie, feels serious guilt over the deaths of their parents. She has asked Aspen to use her investigative skills to find out what happened. So Aspen goes back to the Bay Area to unearth the cold case and a whole lot of memories, and in doing so, she stirs up someone - someone who doesn't want her to figure out what happened.

This was the first of Daryl Wood Gerber's Aspen Adams books that I've read. It's different from her cozies, but oh, so good. I got enough of Aspen's backstory that I didn't feel lost, but I'd like to read the earlier books now to get the whole picture. The story moved quickly and held my interest, and the characters were believable. And while this isn't a cozy mystery, it also isn't what I'd call a gritty crime thriller. It's a well-written, engaging mystery with a fair bit of suspense, and I enjoyed the heck out of it. Must read all the Aspen Adams books, and I hope Ms. Gerber has a lot of these books left to write!

Disclaimer: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and Beyond the Page Publishing. All opinions here are mine, and I don't say nice things about books that I don't actually like.