Lately, Dee Henderson’s books have been a little disappointing to me. They haven’t had the suspense and action of her O’Malley and Uncommon Heroes series, but with Traces of Guilt, I felt she’s getting back on track. I was a little confused at the beginning, as the story opens without the title character appearing until several chapters into the book. I really enjoyed having the multiple points of view; I’d expected it to be primarily Evie’s story. I also liked seeing familiar faces from some of her previous books while introducing several new ones as well. I hope to see more of their stories in future books.
Due to Evie’s job of investigating cold cases, there wasn’t a lot of suspense in this story, but I enjoyed the investigative side of unraveling the mysteries. I’m guessing the romance will be drawn out throughout the series as it follows Evie’s investigations. I loved the potential between Evie and Sheriff Gabriel Thane. It will be interesting to see how they’re drawn together in the next story, as Evie was just visiting his hometown for this investigation. While I would have liked to see a little more action than dialog and speculating, this was much better than I expected it to be, based on her last couple books.
I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys clean mysteries that are light on the romance. I plan on reading the rest of this series.
