…AND THE KILLER HAD NO FACE… Lara Radburn arrives minutes after a crime is committed. She finds her renter, Crystal Mar, a local artist, dead. She has been bludgeoned by one of her own works in progress…the sculpture of a fierce lion. Her four-year-old daughter, Karma, has disappeared. In a frantic search through the surrounding woods, Lara encounters a stranger who helps her find Crystal’s … Crystal’s child. But she soon discovers that Dane Lanford is the man who has taken her late brother’s role as head of the local art retreat, a place shrouded in rumors and mystery, and has ties to Crystal through her artwork. To the traumatized child, the face of the killer has merged with that of the stone lion, so she can identify no one. Lara suspects charming Dane Lanford may be Karma’s father…and a cold-blooded killer.
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4 year old, Karma, found her mother dead. Now three are dead and Lara wants to know who the killer is. I have my guesses but of course I was all wrong. Well I’ll be, I was right about one thing. I like Lara and Karma, they are just so likable and seem like a family in such a short time. I like this book and hopefully these writers write another like this one.
The last thing Lara Radburn expects to find is local artist Crystal Mar murdered, beaten to death by one of her sculptures, a lion. Lara frantically searches for Crystal’s young daughter, Karma, but she’s nowhere to be found. While searching for Karma in the woods, she meets handsome Dane Lanford. Lara has her suspicions about Dane but keeps them to herself, for now. When they find Karma, she so traumatized, she identifies her mother’s killer as the lion from the sculpture. The more Lara investigates, the more she believes Dane might be the ‘lion’ everyone is searching for. Can she solve Lara’s murder before the killer silences her forever?
The Victim’s Child is such a gripping suspense, I couldn’t put it down. With well-developed characters and just the right number of clues revealed at a time, I put on my detecting cap and solved the murder. The plot progressed at a nice easy pace. There’s plenty of intrigue to pull the reader along and even a few white-knuckling moments. The writing style of Loretta Jackson and Vickie Britton reminds me of Mary Higgins Clark. The one trait I look for in a great suspense novel is the story stays with me after I finish reading it. The Victim’s Child and its characters have stuck with me, even to this day. If you’re a fan of suspense, pick up The Victim’s Child. You won’t be disappointed.
Disclaimer: I read this in Kindle Unlimited CA.
My Rating: 5 stars
Thrilling, Slippery Ride
Karma is only four-years-old when her artist mother Crystal Lar is struck down and killed with her nearly completed sculpture. For a brief moment—Karma looked into the face of the killer.
Lara Radburn, who has just returned to Quachita Springs, Arkansas, to settle her late father’s business, is dumbfounded when she learns she is Karma’s guardian. It seems like everyone including her late father’s closest friends urge her to return to her job in New York and leave Karma in foster care—but Lara loves Crystal’s daughter and is determined to guard her from danger, even when that danger turns against her.
Convicted felon Dane Lanford is arrested and accused of Crystal’s murder, but how can Lara distrust a man who is so tender with Karma and so passionate in his kisses?
Lara must choose between trusting Dane or trusting Sheriff Scott Tyler—and how can she trust the sheriff who never properly investigated her brother’s hit and run death? When Karma is kidnapped, it opens up new suspects and new opportunities for danger and death to strike.
Delightfully slippery and fraught with sharp twists, “The Victim’s Child” never makes a turn away from thrilling reading. The characters are strong, the setting is fantastic, and the plot is engaging.