Something strange is going on at Echo Lake. Detective Adam Thayer is devastated when he arrives too late to save his friend who had called for help. But a series of obscure clues brings Adam to coroner Nikki Dresden, who’s eager to determine if one of the town’s most beloved citizens was murdered. Now they must work together to unravel a deadly web of lies and greed…or die trying. From … trying.
From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.
For more action-packed stories, check out the other books in the An Echo Lake Novel series by Amanda Stevens :
Book 1: Without a Trace
Book 2: A Desperate Search
Book 3: Someone Is Watching
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It had been a while since I had opened one of this author’s books and then realized my favorite series of hers was the graveyard one. Did not put the two together at first duh me any ways loving Harlequin I jumped right into this one because their intrigue have all the ingredients you look for. The coroner is Nikki whom when she is called to a scene is soon astonished on whom it is. She also notices the stranger whom is familiar in a way. Adam is watching and realizing there is something going on when whom has called him is no longer able to talk. They soon get together and compare notes with also working together to find out what happened and what is going on. This author will lead you down a path you follow with the chemistry building also. Watch out though through it all you will be blown away when Nikki will see first hand a twist that blows us all away.
This is the first book I’ve read by Amanda Stevens, but it won’t be my last. The book grabs you from page one as Nikki is trying to fish a dead body out of the lake. It isn’t until they flip the body over that her whole world changes. As the coroner for the town of Echo Lake, she’s often faced with the deaths of people she knows, but this one was personal. Extremely personal.
Adam Thayer is a police detective from Dallas hiding out in Echo Lake at his grandmother’s house. When he stumbles across the dead body in the water, he calls it in immediately, even though he knows he will be scrutinized if the body in the water turns out to be a murder victim. When he lays eyes on Nikki again for the first time in years, he’s stunned to see she’s no longer the ‘goth girl’ of summers past, but a bright, strong, brilliant doctor who will stop at nothing to avenge the death of her friend.
Adam and Nikki must band together if they’re going to figure out what Charles was trying to tell them before his death. Finding clues was the easy part, figuring out what they meant before someone else died was nearly impossible. The swift and stunning conclusion of this book was wonderful and completely unexpected.
I will say that there isn’t much romance in this book, but it works. Nikki and Adam work together well and you know they’re starting to fall for each other, but they don’t jump into an instalove relationship at the last second of the book just for grins. They decide to take it slow and easy, since they’ve both been hurt in relationships before and see where it leads. I hope to see more of these two in the third book, Someone is Watching, so we can find out if they do get their forever HEA. Their chemistry was off the charts, so I sure hope so!
I enjoyed A Desperate Search so much I went out and bought the paperback of Without A Trace (Book 1) yesterday. You don’t need to read this series in order to understand them, which was nice since I started with book 2. If you are looking for a well written, twisting mystery with a little bit of romance to soften the blows, you’ll love A Desperate Search!