Book Review: Where the Guilty Hide by Annette Dashofy (Detective Honeywell Mysteries #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters and great mystery

Cons: All cons are in hiding

The Bottom Line:

Home invasion, death

Great start to a new series

Hard to put down book

When Home Invasion Leads to Murder

I’m still several books behind in Annette Dashofy’s Zoe Chambers series, but I couldn’t pass up a chance to get in at the very beginning of her new series.  Where the Guilty Hide takes us to Erie, Pennsylvania, and introduces us to an entirely new set of characters.  It’s no surprise that the result was wonderful.

Erie City Police Detective Matthias Honeywell has been called to the site of a second home invasion robbery in a matter of days.  Like the first one, the family was home and tied up while the group robbed them.  Unlike the first one, the father managed to get free and take off after the thieves.  However, he is now missing, so not only is Matthias racing to find the thieves, but he must find the missing man before something horrible happens to him.

Photographer Emma Anderson has recently moved to Erie, partially to escape her past and partially to look for her sister.  While taking a walk on the shore of Lake Erie, she sees a pile of debris washed up during the storm overnight.  Unfortunately, in that rubble is the body of the missing man.

It seems that every time Honeywell turns around in this case, there’s a connection back to Emma.  How involved is she?  Can Honeywell solve the case?

These may be brand new characters, but they leap off the page from the very beginning of the book.  Both Honeywell and Emma have some baggage in their pasts, and we slowly learn about it as the book unfolds.  It was nice how it was doled out without slowing down the main story, yet it wasn’t teased endlessly either.  The rest of the cast also come to life perfectly.

One thing that I appreciated was that Honeywell and his partner at work got along.  Oh, they had their differences occasionally as they worked on the case, but even then, you could tell they respected each other and considered the other’s point of view.  That feels different from many police procedurals where the author tries to work up additional conflict with a difficult partnership.

Those familiar with Annette’s first series won’t be surprised to find that the story is told from both Honeywell and Emma’s points of view.  These changes happen at chapter breaks, so it’s always easy to know who’s head we are following at this moment in time.

And the plot was wonderful.  It continued to build until we reached a page turning climax.  Sadly, I was trying to read on my lunch hour and breaks, so I kept having to put the book down when I’d reached the climax.  Believe me, it wasn’t by choice.  Honeywell drives much of the investigation, but Emma learns plenty that helps wrap things up.

Being a police procedural, the book wades into some darker territories than a typical cozy.  As long as you know this going in, you’ll be fine.

I’m very curious to see where these new characters are going to go next.  If you’re already a fan of Annette Dashofy, you’ll be very happy with Where the Guilty Hide.  If you haven’t started her books yet, this is the perfect place to get hooked on her books.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.