I found a new series (to me) on the shelves...

As I walked around and looked at some of the different titles in the mystery section recently, I ran across the Chloe Newcombe series by Betsy Thornton and it caught my eye. I hadn't heard of this author or series before. Chloe is a victim's advocate with the county attorney's office in the fictional Old Dudley, Arizona. She describes her job as helping victims during "crisis intervention, courtroom accompaniment for hearings and trials, whatever we can do to help." (Writer Thornton writes from her own life experiences as she lives in Arizona and works for the Cochise County Attorney's Victim Witness Program as a victim compensation advocate and victim advocate.)

The notion of an amateur detective who works directly with crime victims sounded unique to me and I settled on a the latest book in the series Dead for the Winter since the first book of the series The Cowboy Rides Away is not in our library system.

It is a nicely-written effort by Thornton with its share "off-center" characters to give the book its distinct sense of community. Even Chloe is somewhat off-center here. Her judgment slips with dangerous results.

Chloe finds herself a suspect in the death of nearby town carpenter who she befriends after employing him. She finds him charming and even considers him a romantic prospect--she's broken up with her long-time boyfriend now--except he has pestering secrets. For instance, he's married.

I suspected later that I might have enjoyed another book in the series where Chloe is actually working (she's suspended from her job here--that suspicion of murder and all) but such as it is. And I hope that Chloe returns but Thornton has decided to write about others for her next book. Due this October, Thornton has taken a new turn with A Whole New Life with a new cast of characters featuring southern Arizona sheriff deputy Jackson Williams. Following the car crash death of Williams's wife, it is deemed a murder and he is arrested and imprisoned. This may be a nice character driven story as Jackson has helpful friends and family in corner to help him while he concedes his marriage was a mistake.


In any regard, I think I'll try another Thornton mystery at some point.