THE TRUTH: A DC Smith Investigation

Ninth book in and the author finds ways to surprise the reader and his MC. Brilliant.

Smith is back on a case, one that is personal, but having retired he finds himself on the outside. An old dog learning new tricks and all that except that they're not so new.

Ingeniously characters who we met in passing in other books or seemed inconsequential window dressing reemerge sometimes in a different light and almost center stage. Only almost because Smith continues to be the beacon of these stories and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Turns out Smith can only be so much of a househusband before his brain fries and Jo sees it even when he doesn't or doesn't want to. Taking on a case to help a friend is just the thing to test out the waters.

Things go well until they don't and that's something I appreciate about this series. There is no sugar coating the bitter pills but there's no gratuitous cruelty either.

Eagerly awaiting the audio for the next one and I'll likely dive in to the other Kings Lake stories.