Thrilled to Death-L.J. Sellers

Thrilled to Death
L.J. Sellers
Echelon, Sep 1 2010, $13.99
ISBN: 9781590807279

A few hour after impoverished Danielle Blake left her psychiatrist’s office she disappeared. Her baby son Micha’s paternal grandmother Kera Kollmorgan becomes very concerned. She calls her lover Eugene, Oregon Police Detective Wade Jackson who starts the wheels in motion for her to file a missing person’s report the next day.

At about the same time, wealthy Elle Durham, who owns plenty of property in the city, files a missing person’s report on her daughter Courtney. She never came home after going to a club with friends.

His superiors order Jackson to give his full and undivided attention to the Durham case; while, the brass all but ignores the Blake disappearance. When Courtney’s body is found on a bike path near Puget Stadium, his superiors still ignore the Blake case ordering Jackson to focus on finding the killer. Fuming, Jackson investigates the homicide while quietly working the case that interests him.

The newest Detective Jackson police procedural (see Secrets to Die For) is a terrific investigative thriller in which L.J. Sellars argues money matters as the cops chose the dead rich girl over the maybe still alive poor mom. Multilayered yet character driven, the audience will feel Jackson’s frustration with his superiors who twice select wealth (the second time in death) over poverty. The investigation is strong and realistic leading readers to fully relish Jackson’s latest case(s).

Harriet Klausner