02/29/2016
A cold case preoccupies Tracy Crosswhite in Dugoni’s well-plotted third crime novel featuring the Seattle homicide detective (after 2015’s Her Final Breath). Klickitat County Sheriff Jenny Almond asks Tracy to take a look at a file that Jenny’s late father, retired sheriff Buzz Almond, held on to for 40 years. One night in 1976, high school senior Kimi Kanasket never made it home from the diner where she worked. Her body was later found in the White Salmon River, and her death was ruled a suicide. Buzz, then a deputy sheriff, did his duty by retracing Kimi’s route home, but he was later told by the detective in charge, Jerry Ostertag, to leave the investigation alone. In the present, Buzz’s file and the help of experts like senior crime scene analyst Kaylee Wright and forensic anthropologist Kelly Rosa put Tracy on the trail of four former high school football stars known as the Four Ironmen. Tracy displays ingenuity and bravery as she strives to figure out who killed Kimi. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (May)
Dugoni’s third Tracy Crosswhite novel (after Her Final Breath) continues his series’s standard of excellence with superb plotting and skillful balancing of the two story lines. VERDICT: New readers can enjoy this as a stand-alone; they and series fans will be captivated by the issues and foibles that drive Tracy and strengthen her resolve.” —Library Journal, Starred Review
“Tracy is a well-crafted character...Readers of the first two books will enjoy this one, and, because it can be read as a stand-alone, newcomers can jump right in.” —Booklist
“Dugoni has become one of the best crime novelists in the business...Dugoni brings humor, emotional resonance, and gripping prose to his entire cast of characters. Newcomers will seek out the previous two novels in the series, and readers of the earlier entries will love this one as well.” —RT Book Reviews, Top Pick
“[Robert Dugoni] tops himself in the darkly brilliant and mesmerizing In the Clearing, an ironically apt title for a tale in which nothing at all is clear...Dugoni, once known for Grisham-esque legal thrillers, continues to expand his considerable talents on a much broader canvas, staking out a claim to literary relevance established by the likes of Tony Hillerman and John D. MacDonald. Clearly not to be missed.” —Providence Rhode Island Journal
“In the Clearing is Dugoni’s third crime novel featuring the Seattle homicide detective. Tracy Crosswhite returns in a well plotted narrative that presents readers with a complex and engrossing story to keep them turning the pages to the last. Recommended for all fans of modern detective fiction.” —AuthorLink
“Not to be missed. The characters and case will draw you in and hold you til the last page.” —Night Owl Reviews
★ 05/01/2016
Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite loves to tackle unsolved crimes, so when Klickitat County Sheriff Jenny Almond asks her to investigate a 40-year-old cold case that Jenny's late father had handled, Tracy is intrigued. The murder of her sister years ago weighs on Tracy. The killing was not only unresolved, it was Jenny's father's first case, and the detective feels she owes Jenny. Meanwhile, Tracy's team at the Seattle PD is also probing the death of Tim Collins, supposedly slain by his estranged wife when he broke into their house. But the inquiry keeps turning up inconsistencies in the allegedly straightforward incident. Dugoni's third "Tracy Crosswhite" novel (after Her Final Breath) continues his series's standard of excellence with superb plotting and skillful balancing of the two story lines. VERDICT New readers can enjoy this as a stand-alone; they and series fans will be captivated by the issues and foibles that drive Tracy and strengthen her resolve.
2016-02-29
Seattle PD Detective Tracy Crosswhite's third case takes her back 40 years to a crime everyone concerned keeps telling her isn't a crime at all. It's no wonder that Tracy would be willing to take her days off reopening the apparent suicide of Stoneridge High senior Kimi Kanasket, whose father, Earl, was a Yakama elder, on the eve of the football game that put the Stoneridge football team, the Red Raiders, on the map back in 1976. The present-day case she's been assigned, the shooting of Tim Collins, has elicited two confessions, one by Angela Collins, the wife who was divorcing him, the other by their son, Connor, 17. Since Angela's retained her father, ultrasharp defense attorney Atticus Berkshire, as her counsel, the case promises to be a headache. So Tracy's highly receptive to her police academy classmate Jenny Almond's request that she do one last favor for Buzz Almond, the father Jenny just buried: look once more into the first big case he handled as a Klickitat County deputy sheriff. The evidence indicates that Kimi Kanasket threw herself off a hill into the river below following her breakup with Tommy Moore. But Buzz had never been happy about the case. And as Tracy, with zero encouragement from her boss, takes time to review the evidence herself, she sees that Buzz had been remarkably conscientious about collecting evidence 40 years ago—and that some crucial pieces of that evidence have vanished, leaving Tracy wondering which Stoneridge locals might be covering up the truth, and why. It's pretty obvious where this is all going, and when Tracy arrives at the unpleasant truth, more readers will be relieved or sad than surprised. Back in the present, the recent killing is wrapped up equally predictably but a lot more quickly, having led fans of this heartfelt series (Her Final Breath, 2015, etc.) through a long slog alongside the heroine with little to show for the effort.
