Nothing like being late to the reading party, but so many books and so little time.
Bombshell by NYTimes Bestselling Author Catherine Coulter, published by Penguin in 2013, is my first experience with Catherine's novels. Her prolific 70+ novels began with historical romances but she expanded her repertoire to suspense. Her latest is Nemesis.
FBI Special Agent Griffin Hammersmith of the San Francisco Field Office is on his way across the country to begin his new job with the CAU (Communications Analysis Unit) in Washington DC recruited by Agents Dillon Savich and his wife Lacy Sherlock. Stopping to visit friends and relatives along the way, his last stop is Maestro, Virginia, to see his younger sister Delsey nicknamed the Trouble Magnet since her youth. Sure enough, when he's an hour and a half out, he receives a call from Agent Ruth Noble, married to "Dix", the Sheriff of Maestro, revealing his sister has been clubbed in the head in her own bathroom and there's substantial blood all over the floor and bathtub.
Turns out she'd been hit on the back of the head, but the blood wasn't hers. Someone was murdered in her bathroom and somehow hauled away through the winter snow. This begins a search for a victim which involves an investigation into a guest professor at the elite music school Delsey attends.
Griffin calls Savich to tell him he's detained to help figure out what's going on in Maestro while in DC Savich and Sherlock discover the gruesome death of a teen by the Lincoln Memorial. The plots grow more complex in each investigation presenting unique circumstances and characters, some of whom transmit suspicion even in their grief.
The twists work well, the transitions in each situation go smoothly, and the parallel stories remain effectively separated even when the parties involved merge.
Catherine Coulter knows how to do mystery and suspense. In a way she reminds me of Brandilyn Collins - certainly not in writing style but rather in the sense of a true professional storyteller covering all the important elements of her genre.
I will be reading more of Catherine Coulter if for no other reason than she knows how to write a good story. Bombshell was a worthy introduction to her style.
Light romantic thread, no profanity.
Father, please continue to fill the imagination of Catherine with stories you have for her to tell. Bless her life and writing, Lord. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.