Title: Goslyn County
Author Name: A.M. McKnight
Publication Date & Length: November 28, 2015 – 305 pgs
A mostly black community with its roots in farming, Goslyn, Virginia lay just south of the State’s Capital. The once small, close-knit county had grown rapidly in the past two decades and boasted a population of just over fifty thousand. But the county’s crime stats had grown as well, and the latest offenses included several break-ins and rumors of a meth lab. Time had brought many changes, and many of the longtime folks of Goslyn no longer recognized their community and longed for days gone by.
Goslyn PD Detective Olivia “Ollie” Winston loves her family and friends and shows it through her sense of humor. Just like her neighbors, she too worries about the recent events, and it’s her job to find out who’s behind the crime spree.
While investigating three burglaries, Olivia meets IRS Special Agent Maureen Jeffries who is pursuing a tax fraud suspect. Their cases are connected, and both soon discover they have much in common, personally and professionally.
Goslyn County is a really enjoyable read and stands out from many other lesfic crime novels. It is set in a black community and has a very positive and inspiring outlook that appealed to me. The crime part of the book was well plotted and kept my attention but for me the best part was the budding romance between cop Olivia and IRS agent, Maureen. I felt it was dealt with in a very grown up way and the characters themselves had a maturity and depth to them seldom seen in the genre. Olivia and Maureen meet through working on a case and there are tensions around this as Olivia’s boss is intent on causing her problems. He implies there is impropriety and it causes the women to take things slowly until they are sure about it. I am glad the author decided on a slow burning romance as it made so much sense with these characters. The importance of family and community came through and made the minor characters so important to the whole novel.
KittyKat
This was a fun read. I enjoyed getting to know Olivia and Maureen. I
loved the dynamic between the women and enjoyed watching their love
story unfold. There were times that I wanted to scream at one or both
of them, though mostly Olivia, about their stubbornness but it was
still a fun journey.
I hope the finished book is better edited and formatted than the ARC
we received as there were many times I couldn’t tell what was the
author was trying to say.
The story was engaging and entertaining, as well as hot and spicy in
the right places. Good read.
Tori
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Barnes & Noble
Pingback: A “Thank You” to Readers/Reviewers – A.M. McKnight