TA Moore (1)

You can read this as a teaser for the whole series without being spoiled for book one. This mystery novella (long short story, I guess), is a good taste of the skills of the writer to give the reader both action and characterization.

Javi has a bad case of asshole. There are a lot of flavors of asshole, but his type is particularly repellent. He's almost completely self-centered, impatient, impulsive, mean, arrogant, dominant, and focused on his own desires. There's self-awareness of his show more (many) flaws, but it doesn't stop his behavior. He's jjust enough of a good guy that I wish he would mature (and get therapy - lots and lots of therapy). Because I don't want Cloister Witt to care about him as he is. But then Cloister needs therapy, too. Don't we all... show less

A perfect follow up to the first book [Bone to Pick] where we first met Cloister and his K-9 partner, Bourneville. I’m still trying to sort out why anyone would saddle their kid with a name like “Cloister”. Our two heroes are searching for a missing tourist on a cold, rainy night about two months after the first book ended. Cloister is slightly injured during the search and the victim turns out to be transgender. Enter the FBI in Special Agent Javi Merlo who steps in to investigate the show more incident calling it a possible hate crime. As it turns out there is much more than either of them first suspected. Javi and Cloister “dance” around one another while Cloister patiently awaits Javi to sort out his feelings and stop the dancing. The mystery here is clever with lots of red herrings to twist your brain up. The ending is really clever. There are things that you will likely figure out long before our heroes do...but the total picture takes a while to come together and that keeps you guessing. Excellent series with wonderful, warm characters...especially the four legged one with fur. show less

4.5 ⭐️ Review to follow
Really excellent mystery – the first thing you notice is the atmosphere; you can feel the heat, the hot dry winds blasting down and sucking the life out of everyone. It is a secondary character in the story, that oppressive heat beating down on the people, the town, the investigation.

Cloister Will is a K9 officer in the San Diego County Sheriff’s Dept., he relates better his dog Bon (loved Bon) than he does to people. He is haunted by the disappearance of his show more brother, it is why he became a cop and why he works hard to find the missing and return them home. I really liked Cloister, he has his issues, but he is appealing and vulnerable. Javi is a different character altogether. He is prickly, antagonistic and an ass most of the time. There is a story there, but the reasons for his asshole-ishness is hinted at but not explained. He is the FBI agent assigned to the area and knows the missing child and his family.

The missing person is a 10 year old boy, Drew Hartley, who wondered off one night and didn’t come back. It soon becomes apparent that Drew didn’t disappear on his own, but was taken. As the evidence mounts up, Cloister’s intuition leads him and Javi to an old missing person’s case; could this have been the kidnapper’s first victim?

Cloister and Javi have an adversarial relationship, both are loners who do not let people close, Javi more so than Cloister. They are attracted to each other, but neither is ready to admit to anything more the sexual attraction. This is not a romance, there is no HEA, it is more of a “I guess he isn’t as big an asshole as I thought he was” ending. This is a mystery, a tightly constructed kidnapping that will keep you guessing to the end. Hopefully it is the beginning of more stories for Cloister, Javi and can’t forget Bon.

Highly recommended. show less

Excellent sequel to Bone to Pick. For me this was more A story about the growth of the protagonists than the mystery, I loved seeing how Cloister and Javi have changed since the first book. Javi is still an ass, just less so. Watching him and Cloister dance around each other and their feelings was what I enjoyed most about reading this one.

If you haven't read Bone to Pick, buy it now, then get this one, you won't regret it.