
Left to Hide is Book 3 in the Adele Sharp Mystery Series by Blake Pierce.
I'm learning you can always count on Blake to deliver a good opening scene followed by the swift and intriguing departure of FBI Special Agent Adele Sharp to the countries where she was raised. Being an investigator/consultant for the (German) BKA, the (French) DGSI, and Interpol, when a potential serial crime occurs in Europe, she's called in for assistance. Seemingly somewhat resented by the BKA and DGSI even though she previously worked at the DGSI and solved a murder there, her American FBI status isn't always received well.
This time she's transported to the German Alps at an exclusive resort where a hideously brutal murder of a wealthy couple who've visited this place for many years matches a similar barbaric killing of another wealthy couple 200 miles away at a resort in the French Alps. Adele is coupled with the familiar young BKA Agent Marshall while she learns her mentor Robert and Agent John Renee are teamed to investigate the French murders. She'd hoped John would accompany her in the German investigation for a multitude of reasons, most of which she won't admit to herself.
When the resort peddles the deaths as a bear attack, it isn't long before it's known that no bear had committed the heinous murders. Leads prove to be elusive and ineffective. In an odd impulsive act, Adele calls her cantankerous father who is a Sergeant in the German police force to join her incognito to help with the investigation. When he arrives, he's eager to assist beyond the limited boundaries Adele sets for him. As they often do, disagreement and a hurtful argument erupt separating them once again.
At both ends of the investigations, Adele, Robert, and John try to establish a connection between the deaths. John shows up unexpectedly and assists Adele but is quick to want the wrong guy arrested. However, through an incidental comment, a new lead presents itself, and after a patched up bout with her dad, the three of them take off to a treacherous area of the mountains where extreme violence threatens them all.
Blake's antagonists present committed psychotic killers who think they're smarter than everyone else, surprised to be confronted by those who've finally figured them out and doubtful they'll be overtaken by their "inferiors". Their arrogance is ultimately their undoing.

A truck driver in Germany wrecks his cab as he crashes to avoid hitting a young barefooted barely clothed girl in the middle of a dark two-lane road in freezing conditions. Rescuing her proves to be an almost futile exercise but he somehow manages to get her to a hospital.
Left to Kill is Book 4 in the Adele Sharp Mystery Series.
FBI Special Agent Adele Sharp has moved back to Paris as she continues her career with Interpol. An unusual case from Germany turns up with international implications because of young college-age missing persons from several countries. It's going to become an international nightmare of investigators if Adele and Agent Renee from DGSI can't quickly figure out why and how all of these young people have gone missing - and exactly for how long and how many of the missing have been found dead.
Meanwhile, the young incoherent American girl found by the truck driver in the middle of the road in Germany has slipped into a coma and reports indicate she might not make it.
When a multi-grid search party is organized for the area(s) in the Black Forest where these mysterious disappearances have occurred, Adele sees her father heading up one group. With barely an acknowledgement between them, John's beginning to see the unsettled dynamic between Adele and her father but doesn't press her.
One group returns without their young leader who stepped away from the group to relieve himself and never returned. And the hunt is on again. When a body of a missing girl is discovered away from the area, the questions increase, and the pressure on the two agents ratchets up even more.
Left to Kill is a multi-faceted story with Agent John Renee drawing closer to Adele as the one she leans on, relies on, has learned to trust, and the one she does her best to resist her feelings for that often betray her - as he does the same. In this case, there is the intense fear of failing to find these missing kids, knowing that the one understandable statement the rescued girl was able to communicate was that someone would have to pay for her escape. Both she and John operate with the dread of the present missing young man and however many others there may be.
Underlying it all is the constant pressure Adele feels to solve the 10 year-old brutal murder of her mother. It haunts her days and nights, and she's determined to use what her father gave her before she departed her last case in the Alps to help find the killer. Only her dad knows she continues the search.
The realistic portrayals of final confrontations between the agents and killers show that the fights are never easy nor without injuries to the agents. Adele has a thing about her firearm - a love/hate battle with it - and more than once her hesitation costs her.
We authors have a habit of using what we call "pet" words or descriptions that can cause a reader to take notice of their repetition. In these novels, there are many "Roman noses" on handsome men, and Agent Renee and Agent Sharp along with others do an awful lot of "growling". Occasionally there are a few missing words like "a, the, etc." but it's not a big deal. The characterizations are always interesting, and getting to know Adele and John better in each novel whets the appetite for even more of them.
I highly recommend this series by Blake Pierce. Good mysteries, good characters, evil antagonists, complex investigations, and lots of sexual tension that doesn't overpower the partnership or the stories.
Profanity present.
Father, please, again, continue to bless Blake's incredibly prolific career. Obviously, you've endowed this author with incredible talent and creativity. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.