This is the second book in 'The Secrets of Kincaid' series, which I assume will be a trilogy with each book following different people within the same family and the same town; Kincaid being a small town in Kentucky. The first book, 'Secondary Target', focused on Corina Roberts, who becomes the target for an unknown assailant who clearly has a grudge, even though she has no idea at all what it might be. This follow-up switches focus to Allye Jessup, the sister of her husband Bryce. It seems that book three will switch again to Allye and Bryce's cousin, Hailey.

I liked that first book for a number of reasons, not least that we learn everything as Corina did, so it's appropriately confusing at the outset, only gradually becoming clear. This aims to mimic that approach with a wonderful setup, the first few chapters mirroring the back cover blurb but with a deeper amount of detail. Put simply, Allye believes that she's been attacked. She left her studio to see a murder, two men over the body of a third. One of them attacks her and nearly strangles her to death. However, Mayor Jennings finds her body at the foot of the stairs and believes she simply fell. He didn't see anyone else there, live or dead.

However, this isn't just about Allye, who's suffering from a number of health issues of late. She is absolutely sure of what she saw, but she also has brain fog, exhaustion and dizziness, along with a lot more migraines than she used to have. Is she progressing to hallucinations? The doctors don't know what's wrong, though they're trying to figure it out. It's also about Eric Thompson, the only detective in Kincaid, who quickly realises that things don't add up. The mayor saw nothing and the cops found no evidence at the scene to suggest that he should, but the bruising on Allye's throat is consistent with strangulation.

This is a strong start. The prose is so smooth that it feels absolutely effortless. The characters are well defined quickly. Allye is headstrong but capable. Mayor Jennings is helpful and realistic. Eric is calm and considered. Neatly, there are moments in this book where we question all of that, but that just means that Angela Carlisle has moved into nuance. That's backed up by her introducing a darker side to Kincaid. It's still a wonderful place to live and the crime rate is uncharacteristically low but it's no longer the paradise on earth that it seemed to be in the first book, where everyone was perfect except the bad guy.

For one thing, there's a drug problem. We know that because Det. Thornton has other work on his caseload and one of those is the accidental overdose of Ashley Harrison, a single mother with two kids. What's more, Eric knows those kids from church. He'd been a mentor to Dion and recognised his younger brother Lucky at the scene. It's almost ballsy for an author of romantic suspense with a Christian focus to throw a meth addict into that mix, her death probably due to that meth being laced with fentanyl.

There's also the hint of corruption. We wonder in the opening chapters if the mayor is as reliable as he seems and there's the possibility of a corrupt cop too, albeit never Eric. Suddenly, Kincaid is a real place, rather than a pipe dream.

Of course, Allye was absolutely right and I don't believe that's a spoiler. Even the back cover blurb is happy to point out that evidence starts to mount to back up her story. Much of that involves her being a target, like her sister-in-law was in the first book. However, whoever is targetting her has an obvious reticence to actually cause her harm, which only leads to more questions. The attacker breaks into her house to threaten her but then leaves without hurting her. When she's shot at, it's her camera that takes the bullet, very possibly deliberately.

I should point out that the former scene almost feels edgy for a Bethany House book. She wakes in the night to find the bad guy on top of her in bed. Sure, it's to threaten not seduce and the author is very careful to point out that there's a quilt between them, but this scene almost feels like porn for this publisher, who are practically allergic to sex. There's a whole romance angle in play, as this is romantic suspense, but the steamiest it ever gets is one unexpected kiss. Maybe that's defined in Bethany House contracts: you can include one kiss, just like a PG-13 rating allows one F bomb.

Carlisle also trawls in some tough situations that feel a lot darker than this publisher tends to go. I'm all for that and I'm all for not having them magically solved by praying to Jesus. Like the first book, the primary characters here are Christian and they pray and go to church and also try to live Christian lives. Unlike the first book, God isn't given a speaking role, which I'm thankful for. What I'm really thankful for, though, is the explanation of Dion's situation. He's a good kid and he tries to do the right thing, but he's also stuck with a meth addict of a mother. So, while he hates illegal drugs and what they do to families like his, he deals to put food on the table. Kudos to Carlisle and to Eric for finding a solution here that's Christian but rooted in care and effort rather than magic.

On the whole, this is a better book than its predecessor and I liked that one. There are occasional problems but Carlisle addresses most of the ones from the first book, as I've explained above, and even addresses some of the ones introduced here soon after we notice them.

For instance, this is so character-focused that everything happening seems personal. Now, Kincaid is a small town, which only emphasises how everybody is connected, but, while we applaud Eric for diligently standing by Allye while investigating her case that few others even believed had merit, but doesn't he have anything else to do? He's the only detective there. Sure, he searches for Dion, who's missing for much of the book, but that's it. It felt like a problem to me until the police chief calls him on it. What else are you doing, Eric? What about all those other cases I assigned you? It's a good catch and I appreciated that. Of course, while he inevitably solves this case, the others go unattended. Again, he's good but he's not magically perfect.

Arguably that personal touch leads to the other obvious problem, which is that this isn't a mystery that we can solve for ourselves. We can absolutely connect some dots, which is why we believe long before it's backed up that the two cases—Allye's mystery murder and the drug problem in town—are connected and it doesn't take much savvy for us to suspect a couple of people. However, unless I'm being even denser than usual, there aren't any clues to set us up to who's actually running the show. That has to be explained to us during the grand finalé. It makes sense, but it's impossible for us to get there on our own except by random guesswork.

The bottom line is that two books in I'm looking forward to the third. ~~ Hal C F Astell

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