Finished
To the Bone by Jeff Carson, a David Wolf Mystery (Book 7)
David Wolf is no longer the sheriff, but chief detective. His son is seeing a girl... and the girl, upon getting home, found her father shot to death on his doorstep. The father is a professor, and a pretty big name in the ancient fossil trade circles, and David Wolf is tasked to bring the killer(s) to justice in the mountains of Colorado, with another sheriff and a retired police dog named Jet. But they are up against some people's million dollar payday... money people are willing to kill for...
Not a bad mystery, when it's got fossils and such mixed. In. Everybody has a secret, and red herrings are everywhere. Six out of Eight.
Finished
Dragon Security 6-book Bundle by Glenna Sinclair ($1 on Amazon)
"Private security romance" (i.e. the Bodyguard) series, involving the folks in Dragon Security
Book 1: Cole returned after his brother Peter's death, possibly to join Dragon Security when Amber walked in, 8 months pregnant, and she claimed the baby was Peter's. Cole saw only a gold digger, but sister Megan saw a vulnerable soul... So Megan sent Cole on his first assignment... Assess if Amber is the real thing... and if Peter's death is really an accident. Cole was not ready for what he would find: love.
Book 2: Vincent is a highly trained operator, but nothing he had been trained for taught him how to act around a famous porn actress with a daughter and insist on keeping her personal and professional lives separate, and someone had pierced the wall. Someone is stalking Quinn Smith, someone who had figured out her porn identity and her real identity. To protect her, Vincent have to understand her, and learn a lot about himself as well.
Book 3: Dominic is one of the senior operatives in Dragon Security. He was in love with Amy, and was engaged to be married, but later lost her love when he had to maintain cover on assignment. When he got news that Amy's twin sister Emily was killed, he realized Amy is also in terrible danger... And he resolved to do something that he can't contemplate... To protect Amy, he must kidnap her first.
Book 4: Marcus was extremely conflicted when he was assigned to protect Candace, who was a nurse that will be surrogate to Blake and Annie Zimmerman's baby. Blake was the hotshot football star (now retired) who had a career that should have belonged to Marcus, but Marcus will do his job... esp. when a genuine threat appeared, for someone really do want this surrogate dead...
Book 5: Hayden is the office flirt, who flirts with ALL the girls... except one, Sam, who is the boss lady Megan's personal assistant and best friend. Hayden loves to make fun of Sam's conservative style, and usually calls her grandma. Imagine their surprise when Megan assigned them to play a young married couple trying to get a loan from a crooked loan officer taking bribes to falsify credit reports. Then Hayden's past came calling...
Book 6: Megan the boss lady has her own problems. Her fiancee Luke literally walked out of her life the day before their wedding and haven't been seen since. Her brother Peter is gone, her best friend Sam's gone (See Book 5), her brother Cole's married (see Book 1), she's alone in facing the world... Who is Dante, this new hire that sort of resembles Luke and appears to know more he admit to, and has even shared her bed at her most vulnerable time? When external threats threaten to destroy everything she worked for, Megan will find that her greatest ally is someone who's right next to her all along.
Better than average "suspense romance". Individual guys actually do think differently. Personally, that last book is really f***ed up thinking. But its' a good "hint" dropped way back in the first book, among other things. However, the author uses switching viewpoints a lot, a romance cliche, his view / her view kinda thing. Which I find rather confusing.
Let's call it 5.5 out of 8.
Finished
Cop of the Year by Kathryn Shay (Bayview Heights Book 1) (FREE on Amazon)
Captain Mitch Lansing is a by the rules cop who suppressed his bad memories from Vietnam, but his latest stint, be a liaison teacher in Bayview High School as a part of new program to improve police - community relations, threatens to upset that careful balance, esp. when he ran into the unorthodox teacher, Cassandra "Cassie" Smith, and the reaction is mutual. For Mitch to be accepted , he must let down his guard, and let the kids and Cassie into his life, and for him to confront something he tried desperately to bury for decades.
Part of me says it's a romance novel, why would it involve gangs and high school kids as secondary characters, but it does add a nice background B-plot of things.
Call it 5 out of 8 (possibly higher for romance fans).