Tunnel Vision by Brenda Adcock

Publisher:             Regal Crest Enterprises

Tunnel Vision is a crime drama about three police detectives who are trying to catch a serial killer.  When he decides to target them the action revolves around them trying to get the killer before he gets them.

Royce Brodie is a homicide detective in Cedar Springs, a small city near Austin, Texas, where she used to be a police officer.  Royce left Austin after her partner was killed and her commander made her life miserable.  She was never sure whether Tim Weston hated her more because her dead partner was his best friend or because she was sleeping with his daughter.  She has managed to put her life back together and is happy in Cedar Springs working with a new partner Curtis Nicholls.  Since she is considered the best detective in the division, it's not surprising that she's asked to train a new detective.  The surprise comes when the detective is Maggie Weston, the woman who broke Royce's heart.

As the detectives gather information about who the killer is, Royce and Maggie have to deal with establishing boundaries on their new relationship.  Royce also has to deal with Maggie's father who still has not forgiven her for what happened years before.  Royce is proud to see that Maggie has excellent intuitive ability for figuring out clues, until that skill causes her to become the killer's next target.  If they can't catch the killer, Royce may lose Maggie for a second time and this time will be permanent.

Tunnel Vision is well written, moves at a quick pace and is an enjoyable story.  The main criticism of the book falls on the editor and publisher.  There are too many pages where words are missing, as if someone forgot that you have to use "a" and "the" occasionally.  It's sloppy that no one picked this up and it happens just enough to call attention to the problem, breaking up the reading rhythm.  Otherwise, this is a book that holds your attention and keeps you reading.  

The Sea Hawk by Brenda Adcock

Publisher:              Regal Crest Enterprises

The Sea Hawk is the story of a woman who can't find happiness until she's catapulted by an accident into the past.  That sets up the friction in the story.  How does she translate her lover in the past into her present?

Dr. Julia Blanchard is a marine archaeologist working on a shipwreck off the Georgia coast that her team has nicknamed "The Georgia Peach."  Her absorption with working on the ship destroys her relationship with her lover Amy and when they break up, Julia breaks the rules of scuba diving and visits the ship alone.  While she is below the sea, her ship is stolen and she's left alone to float in the Atlantic Ocean.  When Julia is rescued by a sailing ship, she discovers it is the ship she's been studying only its name is Le Faucon and it has a female captain, Simone Moreau.  As Julia tries to understand what has happened to her and take advantage of this unusual opportunity to learn about the ship, she participates in adventures around the Caribbean islands and in events of the War of 1812.  She also finds herself falling in love with Simone.  Eventually, Julia has to face the fact that, if she finds her way back to her own time, friends and family, it will mean sacrificing the true love of her life.

Paranormal fiction requires the reader to suspend her sense of disbelief, especially when one character is sent back through time.  The Sea Hawk isn't the first book to do this, but at least Adcock follows it up by trying to keep the historic details in place.  The book is adventurous, contains the requisite romance and teaches information about the period.  It moves quickly and holds the reader's attention.

Anyone looking for a way to pass a few hours of entertainment should find The Sea Hawk more than suitable.

Soiled Dove by Brenda Adcock

Publisher:               Regal Crest Enterprises

Loretta Digby seems to be always fleeing westward.  First she left an abusive step-father and ended up in St. Joseph, Missouri, working as a prostitute.  Then she headed for Colorado hoping to leave everything behind and make a true fresh start.  Clare McIlhenney offers that opportunity, reluctantly.  Clare is a stubborn, hard-headed woman who has been fighting for twenty years to  create a successful ranch and she doesn't think she needs anyone's help, but when she is injured she needs someone to cook and clean for her ranch hands.  Having Loretta at the ranch awakens feelings in Clare that she believed she had shut off completely.  Just as the women begin to believe they might have a future together, Loretta's past catches up with her.  Protecting Loretta may cost Clare everything, including her life.

Soiled Dove is a well written western.  Adcock stays true to the history and doesn't twist it to suit her story.  The details, terminology and atmosphere are true to the times.  The town doesn't approve of how Clare lives and having a relationship with Loretta could destroy them both.  That's the way it was in 1876 and Adcock has her characters find a way around those problems instead of pretending that they doesn't exist or giving them simple solutions.  There are a few places where words are left out and the end of the story seems a little rushed in its conclusion, but those hardly detract from the story.  The characters are vibrant and interesting, which make the book.

Brenda Adcock has written a number of enjoyable books.  Soiled Dove easily fits into that category.  Not only does she provide an entertaining story, but the reader will learn some information about the old West in the process.

Redress of Grievances by Brenda Adcock

Publisher:            Regal Crest Enterprises


Brenda Adcock is beginning a new mystery series featuring Harriett Markham, a defense attorney in Austin, Texas. Years before, she won a case that had tragic consequences and resulted in her fleeing from a very prosperous law firm in Dallas where she was the rising star, and leaving behind her lover. Now, she's living a very quiet, but successful, life raising her niece Lacey and has left all of that behind…she thinks.

The book has a startling opening as an anonymous sniper kills an unsuspecting victim and the reader is allowed to listen inside the head of the shooter to the thought processes that are going on. That is juxtaposed with a scene of Harriett delivering her closing summation in a case that reflects the type of lawyer she has become. The story then opens up when Harriett receives a visit from her former lover, Alexis Dunne, who has a request. The sister of a prominent state senator has been accused of shooting out car windows on the highway and causing a series of deaths. The evidence against Sharon Taggert is pretty conclusive, and now she needs an attorney who can save her from the death penalty.

Because Alexis' law firm represents the senator, they want Harriett to take the case. She is reluctant to do that because it will drag her back into the life she left behind, but then she meets Sharon and realizes that she may not be responsible for her own actions. Despite the consequences to herself, she is determined to save this woman's life. What she doesn't realize at first is that her own life is in danger.

When Harriett begins to receive death threats, she is brought into contact with Jess Raines, a police officer who works in the Sex Offender Office. Jess's job is to figure out if Harriett and Lacey are in danger because of what Harriett is finding out about Sharon's past or if the threat is from a totally different source. Neither of them knows that Jared Wilkes, the man Harriett never should have gotten acquitted the first time he was tried, has been released from prison without the warning Harriett was promised she would receive. And Jared has an agenda of his own. Harriett will also find herself having to make a choice. Does she let Alexis back into her life or does she follow the new possibilities that are being opened to her by Jess?

Redress of Grievances is considered a mystery, but it also qualifies as a psychological study. Sharon's story involves rape and sexual abuse when she was younger and manifests itself in multiple personalities and homicidal behavior. Unraveling how she thinks and what motivates her is one of the most interesting parts of the book. Harriet has her own difficulties, though, dealing with her role as an attorney and the people she is called upon to defend. The Jared Wilkes' case left her damaged in ways that could end up costing her life.

Adcock weaves these characters' stories together with no jerky feeling to the action or story telling. Incidents flow from page to page in a way that keeps the suspense building on two fronts. There is a growing realization of what kind of person Sharon Taggert really is, meanwhile the stalker is moving closer to Harriett all the time. There is a hook in Sharon's story that comes completely from left field and adds a terrific punch to the story. Then there is a climatic ending involving Harriett that is guaranteed to cause chills.