Leyla’s two brothers are on the police force of their small town, Lost Beach, so she is not ignorant that crime is on the rise. She doesn’t expect to find her murdered employee in the alley behind her café. When a friend of her brother’s, law officer Sean Moran, starts asking questions Leyla realizes that this death may be linked to more trouble close to home. She uses her business connections to ask a few questions and finds herself at the center of the case. A case that soon consumes both she and Sean’s lives and creates a connection that binds them together.

Leyla’s café has been a meeting place in previous novels and Leyla herself an acquaintance of other characters stories, so I was excited to see that she is getting her own book. Leyla is an interesting character in that she’s a business owner and sister to a couple of officers on the police force. She’s not a stranger to murder since both her brothers are on the force, but she is normally a supporting character. During the opening chapter when she meets Sean Moran at her brothers wedding there was an immediate connection that I found interesting despite a lack of a mystery at that point in the novel. As soon as the murder lands on her back door? This story twisted into a romantic thriller, and one that I was thrilled to be reading.

Laura Griffin has a great style of writing that makes her stories very easy to read and immerse myself in. At the same time her characters are relatable and the reader can easily like them. Leyla has always been a likable character and because I already knew her I was two steps ahead emotionally by the end of the first page. What was going to happen to Leyla? Was I going to like Sean for Leyla? What kind of danger would Leyla involve herself in? So many questions! Laura Griffin quickly moved the story forward and those questions eventually were answered in a way that helped me connect and like her even more. Sean was a little harder to figure out because he was a new character, but I liked his immediate connection and the mystery that revolved around why he was in town.

Each of the books in the Texas Murder Files series can be read alone, although you’ll see characters from previous novels pop up. They don’t really have anything to do with the current mystery and I feel like their presence doesn’t detract or confuse the reader, so feel free to pick up this book, even though it’s numbered four in the series. I really enjoyed Leyla’s spirit and Sean’s efforts in taming it. It was a good mystery too!

❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review and it was honest!

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