When Denver police detective Dennis Haggerty travels to the small Colorado town of Serenity, he only expects to spend a couple of days with his estranged sister, Kimmy, while she deals with burying her recently deceased husband. On his way to the visitation he meets another recent widow and a woman dies in a fall during the visitation. He soon learns there’s been a string of deaths in the small town, all ruled either natural or accidental. The statistical improbability of so many deaths in a short time in such a small town, along with his gut instincts, leads Dennis to believe there’s a serial killer loose in Serenity.
When he tries to convince the police chief that there’s more to the deaths than meets the eye, he’s met with resistance and encouraged to leave town. Dennis is nothing if not stubborn, and he keeps poking and prodding into the town’s secrets. But when he finds himself falling for his prime suspect, his investigation gets even more complicated than it already was. Accidental Death: A Dennis Haggerty Mystery pulls the reader in on the very first page and doesn’t let go. While the story is engrossing and the solution a real killer, the characters are what really makes this novel a keeper. From persistent Denny to whiny Kimmy to independent Jillian to the incompetent police chief and all the other characters who populate small towns everywhere, each comes across as a real person. Based on the title, it sounds like there will be more Dennis Haggerty mysteries. I’ve read another book, Dying Embers, by this author and loved it, too, so I’ll be first in line for another Dennis Haggerty mystery! |