House of Smoke

Kate Blanchard, a policewoman is called to a hostage situation and it ends badly. Kate, who felt she should have done things differently, quits her job, ends her marriage and loses custody of her daughters.
Kate becomes a private eye and is soon embroiled in a case involving the wealthy Sparks family when their ranch forman is found dead in a jail cell after being arrested on a drug charge. Was it murder or suicide?

Kate Blanchard was once a cop, married to a cop and a battered wife. She breaks out on her own as a PI in Santa Barbara, CA where there is lots of money and lots being covered up. The story is engaging as are the characters.

This book could easily have been 100 pages shorter and not lost a thing. But the strangest thing was the authors using what I would call the "God" voice to set all the scenes e.g. "Kate entered the room where there was a desk" instead of using first person voice to set the scene. Interesting enough to finish but very glad I found this book at a campground exchange.

In 55 pages and still no where...taking too long to get into the story and make it interesting. No thanks