Touch of Red by Laura Griffin (Tracers #12)
Romantic Suspense
Released: October 31, 2017
Pocket Books

Reviewed by Mandi

This is my favorite romantic suspense series – I’m a huge fan of suspense in general. Almost 100% of what I listen to is suspense (not necessarily romantic) and the darker the better. (Shout-out to Karin Slaughter). Touch of Red is not the creepiest or grittiest of Lauren Griffin’s work, but it’s still enjoyable, even with a slightly annoying heroine.

Brooke Porter works for the world-renowned Delphi Center, a leader for forensic evidence research. She is a crime scene investigator, meaning she goes to crime scene and finds the most minuscule evidence, and can hopefully process it which leads to some sort of arrest – or at least helps out the detectives to determine which direction to go. When she gets called to a murder of a woman in her early twenties, who had her throat cut outside her door, Brooke notices something very interesting inside this woman’s pantry – cookie crumbs and fingerprints which belong to a child. But this woman lived alone!

Sean Bryne is a detective called out to this murder. He has worked with Brooke in the past and has a thing for her. Sean plays by the rules though – both in his career and in his love life. But working with Brooke in close proximity gets his blood flowing again. When he asks her out, Brooke is very hesitant. She has ended a relationship recently with a guy who is still lurking around. Following her to places – using his old key to get into her house. Brooke doesn’t have the energy to start-up a new relationship – but Sean is such a good guy…and a patient guy…he finds a way to woo her.

The murder in this one revolves around  a dead woman and a child who may have witnessed the entire thing before fleeing. One of my favorite parts of this series is the way the author can present all the evidence surrounding the crime scene, and make it so interesting. I love reading about the Delphi Center and all of their state of the art technology. And, she never forgets the police side and the details of their investigation. She makes it all work and gives us a romance to boot.

Brooke did annoy me a bit in this one. She becomes so overly protective of the child who witnessed the horrible murder – instead of letting the police and the boy’s mother do their job, Brooke sticks her nose in and then predictably there is fall-out. I wish she would have stuck to her forensic skills and left the boy alone.

The romance progresses nicely in this one. I hate when the hero and heroine are making out when there is horrible danger lurking nearby, but that didn’t happen in this one. The pacing was well done.

Not my favorite of the series, but still a solid addition.

Grade: B

Goodreads l Kindle l Nook