All her life, Midwest restaurateur Sydney Richardson has been searching for answers about her past. Now, in this riveting thriller, the truth hits home—with a vengeance. Billy Tremble thought he had finally made it out of the skids. He was happy to share his good fortune with his less fortunate friends . . . and that’s why he ended up dead. Sydney Richardson’s enjoying a rare night out in her … enjoying a rare night out in her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, when she learns that one of her friends has been shot. Rick Sheffield thought he was staking out a drug deal; turns out he had a front-row seat to a million-dollar cash drop gone wrong. Meanwhile, at a construction site across town, a young vagrant is killed execution-style after spreading some serious wealth among his street friends.
Sydney sees no reason to link the shootings—until the money disappears from the evidence locker, resulting in the release of the suspect in the first shooting and the suspension of the detective investigating the second. Determined to connect the dots herself, Sydney uncovers evidence of a massive conspiracy tying a respectable local family to the Chicago underworld. But what frightens her most is the fact that the trail of blood leads to the decades-old cold case that has haunted Sydney’s every move: her father’s murder.
Don’t miss any of the gripping Hush Money mysteries from T. E. Woods:
HUSH MONEY | BAD GIRL | PRIVATE LIES
And look for the Justice series:
THE FIXER | THE RED HOT FIX | THE UNFORGIVABLE FIX | FIXED IN BLOOD | FIXED IN FEAR | DEAD END FIX
Praise for the first Sydney Richardson novel, Hush Money
“A sleek, delicious new mystery novel . . . With a smorgasbord of suspects and friends, a main course of action and suspense, and a side order of hot romance, T. E. Woods has delivered the perfect menu for the most discerning mystery lovers. I can’t wait for a second helping. Bon appétit!”—Tom Savage, USA Today bestselling author of the Nora Baron series
“Told with skill and gritty sympathy for its imperiled characters . . . Hush Money is a compelling look into a strong-willed woman looking out for her own in the face of evil. Woods is the real deal.”—Tom Shawver, author of the Rare Book Mystery series
“Veteran crime writer and clinical psychologist T. E. Woods serves up a rich cast of characters, myriad motives, and a complex plot, making Hush Money deeply satisfying.”—Eve Karlin, author of City of Liars and Thieves
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Halfway through this book, I saw the news Ms. Woods had passed away. I so wanted to finish the book because I just had to know how this all turned out. But yet, I didn’t want to finish it because this will be our last book written by T.E. Woods. I am heartbroken. This book is the third installment in the Hush Money series, and there certainly had to be a fourth. Sydney has her lifelong questions answered now, but the story is left wide open. I wanted to know how Sydney and her mom’s trip to Ireland goes! Great book, as always. RIP, Teresa.
Private Lies by T.E. Woods, grabbed ahold from the 1st chapter and kept me interested and reading along throughout the whole book. This is the only book I have read by this author but I am going to have to pick up more! Kept me wondering and guessing until the end, definitely a book that I didn’t want to put down til I was finished! Thank you Netgalley and the Publishers for allowing me to read this and give my honest opinion of…I would recommend this book!
Wow, what a powerful story! Powerful on so many different levels. Loved the main characters, they were strong ones, and they were likable too. And oh, did I mention smart and good at what they do?
Sydney was someone who succeeded in so many ways especially when it came to her businesses. Now, her love life was kind of a different story though. Her lover and friend Clay wants so much more with her but there’s just something that isn’t showing her as all in. This is going to be a problem. So is her feelings for Rick Sheffield, there’s more there than they want to really address. I wouldn’t say that this thriller had as much romance as i would have liked but that’s just me probably. It still was incredibly good.
Her late father’s cop partner, Horst Welke (what a name) is a great addition to the story. He adds so much to the story as being the man who stepped up and was always there for Sydney whenever she needed him. They had such a great, affectionate relationship.
This story has surprise after surprise with several twists of surprises towards the end of the book. I kid you not, at least one of them I didn’t see coming and I liked that the author could surprise me like that. I don’t want to give anything away so I am going to stop right there. I would be open to read more by this author after reading this book.
I voluntarily read an advanced reader copy of this book via Netgalley. And this is my honest opinion of it.
This book is third in a series of Sydney Richardson’s Hush Money books, and I would definitely recommend that they be read in order. Although I had not read the other books and could understand the characters and the action, there always seemed to be something that I was missing because I had not read the other books. Sydney is easy to like since she is the adopted daughter of a policeman killed in action and also because she is an entrepreneur with several restaurants that she owns. She is a high-end clothes horse, and she has relationships with two different men. I found the plot complicated and hard to follow, but everything was resolved in the satisfying conclusion. There was a twist at the end which made it more of a mystery, but the big mystery of who took the money from the police locker was easy to figure out. The pace was very slow at the beginning of the book picks up in the middle and races to a satisfying conclusion. I stayed with it because I wanted to know if my guess for the whodunit was correct, but it was not a book that totally kept my attention. There were too many characters and too much happening in too many places at once to be able to say that the plot was well-developed. Part of my dismay may have been because this was the first book in the series that I had read. Readers of police mystery and spicy romance will enjoy this novel by a writer who demonstrates his craft well.
Disclosure
Disclaimer of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions that I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”