Thicker Than Water by Liz Milliron

Series Name: Laurel Highlands Mystery Book #6
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: September 19, 2023
Format: Print, Digital

Pennsylvania State Trooper Jim Duncan responds to a call regarding a missing autistic young man. When the boy is quickly found, Jim thinks the case is closed…until the young man insists the police need to help a “sleeping blue lady” and leads them to a dead woman in an abandoned shack, clad in only her underwear.

Meanwhile, defense attorney Sally Castle is searching for a troubled young woman who wandered into her office wanting protection from an unnamed man…and disappeared before Sally could obtain any details. Sally is bothered by the incident and unnerved when she discovers that Jim’s dead body and her missing potential client are the same person.

Jim and Sally soon discover the young woman led a secret double life, with ties to the autistic boy who started it all. As Jim and Sally investigate, the case takes increasingly ominous turns, uncovering hidden money and a seamy underbelly of sex work, before turning into a desperate race to stop a killer. Can Jim and Sally solve the case in time to stop the murder of an innocent boy?

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Dru’s Short Musing:
This well-written and fast-paced drama immediately grabbed my attention, and I could not put this book down, quickly becoming a page-turner.

The author knows how to tell a story that grips you from the start and never letting go until the last page has been read. This was a riveting tale with a missing young man and the murder of a young woman who had inquired about help from Sally. Both Jim and Sally have their hands full when investigating looking for clues that underscores a double life led by the woman. Who wanted the young woman dead and why? Why does the mother have a strong hold on her son and what is she hiding? The more we learn about the potential suspects and their motives, the more the drama escalates, and I couldn’t tear myself away from what was happening with those involved. The author did a great job in staging this mystery with a few strategically placed twists, where some were eliminated and some moved up a notch, especially when the author changed direction to how this story was going to play out. Overall, this was an excellent addition to the series and one of the best books thus far and I can’t wait to see where we go next with Jim and Sally and their friends.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the author.