Casee‘s review of Silent Killer by Beverly Barton.

In A Town Full Of Secrets

To most people, men like Mark Cantrell are fine, upstanding pillars of the community, completely beyond reproach. But their killer knows better. They are sinners of the worst kind, and they must burn on earth before they burn in hell…

Trusting The Wrong Person

Eighteen months after her husband’s unsolved murder, Cathy Cantrell has returned to her Alabama home, eager to build a new life for herself and her son. But pieces of her past are everywhere—including Jackson Perdue, the town’s deputy sheriff. The spate of recent deaths—each victim burned in the same horrifying manner—leave Jack and Cathy in no doubt that a serial killer is at work, one whose rage grows more vicious each day…

Can Be Fatal…

Now as a twisted killer moves in for a final, brutal act of vengeance, buried crimes are coming to light once more. And this time, justice will be swift, merciless, and as silent as the grave…

Beverly Barton’s heroines usually drive me batty. They always gasp and say “Mercy!” or are just generally helpless without a man. There are a few exceptions of course. Cathy Cantrell wasn’t one of them.

Cathy had a nervous breakdown after she saw her husband burn to death right in front of her. Checking herself into a mental health facility, Cathy gave up guardianship of her twelve year old son, Seth. While it was a very difficult thing to do, Cathy knew it was what needed to be done.

After a year of in and out-patient therapy, Cathy has returned to reclaim her son and her life. Everything is going just swimmingly when a priest is found burned to death in the local park. That and her father-in-law is refusing to give up custody of Seth. On top of all that, Jackson Perdue, a man she once loved is back in town. Facing him is one of the harder things Cathy has had to do.

Jackson takes a job with the sheriff’s office and is put to work on the county’s cold cases. He starts with Mark Cantrell, though the case doesn’t remain cold for long. The killer that has only struck twice in eighteen months has stepped it up.

There were passages from the killer’s pov. I found the whole “God told me to” part a little over the top. I skimmed most of the passages b/c there were just so out there. I understand that the killer is psychotic, but it just seemed cheesy after awhile. The killer believed that punishing men that are sinners was the work of God. Which brings me to a loophole that was never tied up…did Mark Cantrell actually do anything the killer thought he had done? That was never really clarified. There were a few other things that didn’t add up, which really took away from the story.

The romance was probably the best part of the book, but even that was lacking.

3 out of 5.

This book is available from Zebra. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Trusting Her.
They all loved her. That was their mistake. Two husbands, her college fiancée an influential boss-every man who gets close to Jordan Price is made to pay in blood. And the list is growing.

Could Be.
Hired by the Powell Agency to investigate Senator Dan Price’s death, Rick Carson can see at once why people would believe Jordan Price incapable of cold-blooded murder. Slender, pale, and elegant, she stands by her late husband’s graveside exuding sweet vulnerability. Only Rick notices that she never sheds a tear. And the deeper he delves into the string of deaths from which Jordan has profited handsomely, the more convinced Rick becomes that he is dealing with a callous, cunning, unstoppable killer.

The Last Thing You Ever Do.
The closer Rick gets to the chilling truth, the more dangerous this game of cat-and-mouse becomes. The targets are changing, and suddenly, nothing and no one is safe. If Jordan is as innocent as she claims, Rick may have placed her in a killer’s cross hairs. And if she’s guilty, he’ll never live to regret it.

I have a love/hate relationship w/ Beverly Barton. I really love her story lines and the relationships between her characters. I really have to get into a “southern” frame of mind. Both her heroes and heroines are extremely southern. The heroines are southern bells and the heroes are the men that take care of them. It’s only when you really look below the surface that you see that these are really strong women.

Jordan Price is shocked when her brother-in-law hires the Powell Agency to look into the death of his brother, her husband. She is even more shocked when the agents arrive and immediately put her on the suspect list. Though she knows that the spouse is generally looked at first, Jordan hadn’t even considered that Dan was murdered.

Rick Carson can’t decide if Jordan is a grieving widow or a black widow. Too many men in her past are dead to make it a mere coincidence. Rick is dismayed by the protective instincts that arise when it comes to Jordan. He carefully watches Jordan so he can understand who she really is.

I liked the mystery in this book. It’s not immediately clear whether Jordan is a killer. That made for interesting reading. There are a lot of relationships and secrets in Jordan’s family. Jordan is a caretaker and with a family like hers, Rick quickly realizes that Jordan is an incredibly strong person. Which gives him all the more reason to suspect Jordan. As for Jordan, she is horrified by the feelings she has for Rick Carson. Ever since her fiance died when she was younger, she has never let herself love outside of her family.

Even though I liked the book, it wasn’t my favorite of Barton’s.

3.75

This book is available from Zebra Books. You can buy it here. No e-format.