Review – Justice Betrayed

It’s Elvis Week in Memphis, and homicide detective Rachel Sloan isn’t sure her day could get any stranger when aging Elvis impersonator Vic Vegas asks to see her. But when he produces a photo of her murdered mother with four Elvis impersonators–one of whom had also been murdered soon after the photo was taken–she’s forced to reevaluate. Is there some connection between the two unsolved cases? And could the recent break-in at Vic’s home be tied to his obsession with finding his friend’s killer?

When yet another person in the photo is murdered, Rachel suddenly has her hands full investigating three cases. Lieutenant Boone Callahan offers his help, but their checkered romantic past threatens to get in the way. Can they solve the cases before the murderer makes Rachel victim number four?

My thoughts: JUSTICE BETRAYED is the third book in Ms. Bradley’s A Memphis Cold Case series but it stands alone. The other books in the series are Justice Buried and Justice Delayed if you want to read them in order.

I enjoyed getting to know Rachel and Boone. I absolutely loved Boone, he was a Christian, strong, faithful, caring, and there. Rachel was hurting, very realistic and I loved her family relations (grandparents, dad) even though I think she misread her dad. There are a host of secondary characters that round the story out and keep it interesting and even entertaining.

I read a lot of suspense and I know how it works so I figured out who the killer was probably in the first fifty pages. What I didn’t know was how they would solve the current murders and the cold cases that were tied together.

I was a bit surprised by the generalizations made — Rachel was surprised by the amount of fifty plus year old women present at the Elvis Presley impersonations and at Elvis week in general – but my mother-in-law (seventy something) goes to Elvis week and is (was) a huge fan of Elvis Presley. I think there are a lot of women older than me who are (were) huge fans so it would be a draw for that generation. She also made comments about grandmothers and texting and in this day and age, I think most do. This had nothing to do with my enjoyment of the book, but I noticed it each time.

There is a good faith message, plenty of action, not to mention romantic tension between Boone and Rachel. I greatly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it if you like romantic suspense.