Review of romantic mystery Swing Into Murder by Vanessa M. Knight
Harper Lange is a grade school teacher with a secret. Well, since her husband passed away, she hasn’t been to the DeVout swinger’s club—so her secret life has dried up to Harry Potter binges and Merlot. Clubs are no fun without her husband by her side.
When Las Vegas’ finest knock on her door reopening her husband’s case, she finds herself back at DeVout trying to figure out who would want to kill her husband. Kill her husband. She never thought she’d be thinking those words, let alone interrogating her friends.
With everything going on, she should be hiding in the corner with a full bottle of wine and a box of donuts, like a normal person. Instead, she’s roaming around the streets of Las Vegas getting hot and bothered with Detective Alex Cabrero—heavy on the bothered. The man can’t seem to understand why she’d want to find answers—or that she’ll go wherever the information leads—even if it means she has to drag the detective along.
Harper needs to find the truth before she becomes the next victim.
Excerpt from Swing Into Murder
Harper Lange pulled out the chair behind a wooden desk. The first cop stood behind the chair across from Harper while the scowly one leaned against a bookcase across the room.
“I’m Detective Cabrero.” The scowl didn’t leave his face. “And this is Detective Lucas, Ms. Specter.”
“Lange. I’m back to my maiden name. Please sit.” Harper sat down and waved to the pleather chairs in front of the desk. It hurt to lose her husband’s name—although it had been her choice. It hurt to lose anything associated with him. For a while, honestly everything hurt. “Do you know something about my husband’s accident?”
Detective Lucas sat in the left-hand chair. He was a nice-looking guy in a father-with-a-minivan kind of way. He had a receding hairline and a belt trying to escape the paunch in his middle.
“We don’t have anything new, Ms. Lange.” Detective Cabrero angled away from the bookcase and sat in the remaining chair across from the desk. He ran a finger along the scar along his cheek. “We’ve reopened the case because we have another incident in front of DeVout.” DeVout. The home that housed the secret-club where she’d last seen her husband, Brad. The club took everything away from her. “An incident?”
“Do you know Madeline Williams?”
Harper hadn’t talked to Madeline in weeks, which was sad since they’d been best friends. “I do.”
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“About a year.” When Harper’s husband ran a hand down her naked back. She’d talked to Madeline but they just hadn’t been able to synch schedules. “Is she okay?”
She’d been a great friend and strong shoulder when Harper needed to cry. And she was one hell of a kisser too.
Detective Cabrero leaned forward, his eyes reading her every move. “Madeline was killed last night.”
Killed? The word slammed into her chest and sucked the air from her lungs.
Review of Swing Into Murder
A fun and entertaining mystery with lots of heart. I enjoyed following these characters, and some of the side people were just a joy. Nice romance, too, and I could see this all progressing into a great series.
The swinging lifestyle was an interesting angle. My attitude has and will always be to each their own, and I really enjoyed how the different characters showed different takes on what swinging meant to them. Like anything else, there’s no one-size-fits-all thing. This is getting a little deep, but this book really got me thinking about jealousy and what really breaks a relationship—and not just romantic ones. This is all stuff I’ve mused over from time to time, but this book really drove home that trust is essential, whatever that trust looks like.
All in all, I recommend this if you want a book that will make you run the gambit of emotions. I wouldn’t go with the cliche “I laughed; I cried,” but there were funny parts, sad parts, thoughtfully hot parts—you get the idea. This is also a great book for exploring your feelings about relationships if that’s something you’d like to do, but either way, it’s a great story that’s worth reading on its own.
About Vanessa M. Knight
Who is Vanessa M. Knight? Well, I’m an author. Wow. After years and years of wanting to use those words, that is fun to say. It’s almost as fun as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Did I spell that right?
I write contemporary romantic suspense.
I live in Chicagoland with my family and menagerie of four-legged friends. In my mind, these lovely animals do everything as they should. I’m the alpha, keeping peace and harmony amongst my humble servants. In real life, they own me. I’m the maid, here for their feeding pleasure. Well, that and to clean up their messes.
When not catering to the needs of adorably-furry faces, I slug through the nine to five grind and head home so I can write. Of course, that’s after I make dinner and clean the house and all the other tasks that go into family life. So really, I work, cater to animals and my family… and then, if I don’t fall face first into bed, I write. I love putting my characters into crazy situations and watching how they react. I hope you love reading about them.
I love to hear from fans. I can be found on Facebook at VanessaMKnight and at www.vanessamknight.com.
Giveaway
Vanessa M. Knight will be awarding a $5 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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I liked the excerpt.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful review of Swing Into Murder, I like the cover, synopsis and excerpt and I am looking forward to reading this story myself
Cute cover! The blurb and excerpt sound really good.
The book sounds like a fun read. Great cover.