A Desperate Place: A McKenna and Riggs Novel (McKenna and Riggs, #1)

by Jennifer Greer

Perfect for fans of Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoli & Isles and Kathy Reichs, comes an explosive debut thriller about a team of two strong women and a crime that will shake you to your core.

Three separate homicides. Three unrelated victims. One grisly secret.

When the body of famous actress Niki Francis is unearthed from its shallow grave, the small town of Medford, Oregon is alarmed, but not shook. After all, there should be plenty of motives and suspects--Niki had fame, wealth, looks. The kill was targeted, premeditated, and it's about her celebrity. Or so they thought.

Whit McKenna is licking her wounds, working as a reporter for the local Medford rag. Fresh from a harrowing assignment for her previous post at the L. A. Times which cost her her husband, Whit must pull herself together for the sake of her two daughters. The wound has hardly begun to scab when she's called to cover the murder, so she teams up with her best friend, medical examiner Katie Riggs. Then two more victims turn up, completely disconnected from one another, and McKenna loses all hope of a breakthrough.

Rather than clarity, the possible suspects and motives become scrambled. But time is running out, and each front page article McKenna writes brings her closer to a killer who will stop at nothing to realize a deadly vision.

• ISBN10: 1643853848
• ISBN13: 9781643853840
• Publish Date: 11 August 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Crooked Lane Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781643853840

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

A Desperate Place is the first book in a new modern mystery series by Jennifer Greer. Released 11th Aug 2020 by Crooked Lane Books, it's 311 pages (print version) and available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. t's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is a modern murder mystery set in the Pacific northwest with an investigative duo of journalist and police detective with the medical examiner's office. They collaborate while investigating a string of local murders staged to look like accidents. The common thread between the victims is the basis for this medical thriller/mystery.

The writing is competent but the pacing was glacial for much of the book. Probably 20% of the book was flashback descriptions of McKenna's traumatic experiences as an investigative journalist in Afghanistan. She is also preternaturally lucky in her present day assignment, since she gets instant access and full honest disclosure from almost everyone she interviews (starting with 2 young boys who were important eyewitnesses and tell her everything immediately). The medical parts of the story made me roll my eyes on numerous occasions. (Trust me, medical professionals are too busy to give the Dr. Mengele-worthy performance of the head psycho-bad-guy in this book). The denouement was way over the top and felt tacked on rather than a natural progression of the story arc.

Negatives aside, this is a fairly well written medical murder mystery. Fans of crime fiction who like strong female characters will find a lot to like here. This is a strong series start from a debut writer, and judged on that basis, is worth a look. Three stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.