Someone murdered her coworker… Is she the next target? When her assistant’s death is ruled a suicide, wildlife biologist Emma Copley knows the authorities got it wrong. The killer is still out there, threatening Emma’s work and her life. Launching her own investigation, Emma turns to Beau Kingston, who’ll do anything to protect her–even resist their growing attraction. But the handsome … the handsome rancher has secrets of his own, secrets that could cost them everything…
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Colleen Thompson’s Deadly Texas Summer is a tense and fast-paced tale of romantic suspense. Wildlife biologist Emma Copley is studying the effect of wind turbines on endangered birds, but her project begins to unravel as she gets more and more threatening calls from her unbalanced ex-husband. When her research assistant is killed, Emma is sure her ex is somehow responsible, but the local sheriff pronounces the death an accident.
Beau Kingston, owner of the ranch who’s future may depend on the success of the wind turbines, doesn’t want to believe the researcher was murdered—he has a whole pile of other problems to worry about, including the sheriff, who is his cousin and rival for control of the ranch. But he finds it harder and harder to ignore Emma’s concerns—or Emma herself.
With the sheriff playing them against each other for his own reasons, Emma and Beau don’t know who to trust, but it’s so hard to resist their growing attraction to each other. With suspects mounting amid contradictory alibis, will Emma survive to discover the truth? Well, it’s a romance, folks. You can count on a happy ending. But getting there will be quite a struggle, with layers of suspense and mystery—and two irresistible little boys.
This was a fast-paced suspense novel that I really enjoyed. The book opens with Emma Copley, a professor and wildlife biologist, looking for her student and partner in her research project. When she finds him, she doesn’t expect him to be dead. The sheriff in the town has a beef with his cousin who owns the land that the wind turbines are on, and the murder of Russel opens up a can of worms for Emma and Beau, the landowner.
Emma wants to work together with the sheriff to find Russell’s killer, but the sheriff just wants her out of his town so he can focus on stealing the ranch from Beau, who he’s convinced isn’t a real Kingston. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know Emma well enough and has no idea the lengths she will go to in order to avenge her students death and prove that it was her ex-husband who did the killing.
Beau is a single widowed dad who’s busy raising two boys while trying to keep his ranch alive. He’s been faced with the lawsuit brought on by his cousin, the new wind turbine contract he signed to keep his ranch alive, and now a murder on his land. What really has him confused are his feeling for Emma Copley. The beautiful, but obviously broken, woman needs help and Beau plans to be the one to offer it. Only to the extent that gets the murder solved and her off his land before he does something he’ll regret.
The romance part of this romantic suspense was a bit of a stretch until about 60%, which I’m finding more and more common in a genre that starts out with the word ‘romantic.’ I wish the relationship between Emma and Beau had been better explored. They got in their own way all the time rather than fight through their demons in a constructive way. The author didn’t tell us how several things happened at the end, but the HEA for Emma and Beau was worth it!
The proofing errors in this book were off the charts. I know that’s not the author’s fault, but Harlequin needs to take another look at this one because it was distracting how many simple proofing errors there were.
With all of that said, would I recommend this book to a friend? Yes! I loved the mystery/suspense of the story, the characters, especially Aunt Alicia, Cort, and Leland. Two sweet puppers who make the story fun, and a bunch of bad guys that you can’t help but want them to find their way into a jail cell. If you’re looking for a strong suspense novel with a vein of romance running through it, you’ll love Deadly Texas Summer.
One of my favorite things about romantic suspense is that the hero and heroine work together to solve the problem. Beau and Emma both have too much past experience aka baggage to make that transition smooth or easy. Just about the time you think they have it figured out, one of them does something stupid. Thompson captured typical human behavior on the nose. Most of us are not quick to trust or work together either. I really enjoyed this book, largely because it doesn’t fit the traditional mold.
Emma Copley, wildlife biologist, tragically finds the body of her young research assistant hanging high from a ladder at one of the wind turbine sites they’re researching. Although it’s quickly ruled a suicide by the county sheriff, Emma suspects foul play. She knows her student would never take his own life, nor would he disregard the strict safety rules that no one climb alone unless forced to do so. But does it have to do with the device they’ve been testing, one meant to reduce birds of prey killed by the towering green energy producers? Or is it something more personal? Just a few hours before, her tech-savvy ex-husband spoofed her mom’s number to threaten and harass her yet again. He’s a man obsessed with his jealousy, still stalking her, even after their divorce and with a no-contact order in force against him.
Beau Kingston owns the ranch land on which the green company leases land for the wind turbines. It’s obviously in his best interest to see the energy source successful. But when he meets Emma, distraught from her student’s death and being badgered by his bullying cousin, the sheriff, Beau finds he’ll do anything to protect the woman, a woman he finds is only after the truth. But Beau has his own issues, including two young sons to raise and secrets from his past that add to the complexity of this inventive story.
When Emma refuses to leave the small tight-knit community until a thorough investigation ensues, threats against her escalate. And the path to who’s behind them will surprise you. The action is non-stop in this smart and tense suspense.
I think there’s a second book coming in this series, and I can’t wait to meet some of these characters again. This one is a winner. Enjoy.
Spinning with suspense as hotly lethal as the wind turbines that forest the west Texas ranchland where the novel takes place, DEADLY TEXAS SUMMER begins with a woman already on the edge, one on the run from a past she’d just as soon forget. But other forces of the killing kind are at work and murder is not out of the question. Who can she trust when law enforcement seems indifferent, when the handsome rancher who appears as her rescuer turns out to have an agenda that is the polar opposite of her own? In this fast-paced story, riddled with secrets, where nothing is at it seems, matters of love, family honor and loyalty are tested to the maximum degree through a cast of characters who are as layered and deeply human as their flaws.