Grace Lee's brother, Jimmy, has died in Dark Falls, CO, where he has lived happily with his boyfriend for years, and his death has been rule a suicide--by heroin overdose.

But former junkie Jimmy had been clean for just shy of five years, and Grace hadn't seen any of the signs she'd seen around his previous relapses into using. She just does not believe it. And Grace is a forensic scientist with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Even the death scene photo is wrong. Very, very wrong.

Nate Ryder is the Dark Falls police detective who closed the case based on the medical examiner's report and verbal confirmation from the medical examiner. At first he's just humoring Grace because, after all, it's her brother who died, but the more they look at the report, the tests that weren't done, the fact that her brother's body has already been cremated...

It starts to look very bad. And then bad things start to happen. Someone doesn't like the fact that they're poking around in this case at all.

This is the second book in the Dark Falls CO series, with each book by a different author. Based on this sample of two, it certainly looks like they really did their homework to make sure the were working from a consistent and well thought out background.

And as with the previous book, the characters are complex, interesting, and likable. Nate and Grace are both tough, intelligent, thoughtful people, in very different ways. When they find themselves on the run from killers, they're resourceful, and also open to each other's different strengths and knowledge. That doesn't mean all goes smoothly between them, but it does mean that when they do wind up in serious misunderstanding (gee, that's a suitably vague and unrevealing way to put it), it's because there's what looks like good evidence and they don't yet know each other well enough. They don't cling pigheadedly to the misunderstanding when counter-evidence emerges, or ever do stupid things just to keep the plot moving. Kade does too good a job of plotting to need that cheat.

Overall, it's a smart, interesting mystery with a lot of heart, and makes me really hopeful for the rest of the series.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book, and am reviewing it voluntarily. ( )