Book: A Thorn Among The Lilies

Author: Michael Hiebert

Genre: Fiction/Mystery

Summary: Detective Leah Teal is privy to most of the secrets in her hometown of Alvin, but there are always surprises to be had. Like the day she agrees to take her daughter, Caroline, to see a psychic for a reading. The psychic hones in on Leah instead, hinting at a string of gruesome killings and insisting that she intervene to prevent more deaths. When you go looking for trouble, you never know how much you'll find. Sure enough, the psychic's scant clues lead Leah to a cold case from six years ago, when a young woman was found shot to death, her eyelids sewn shut. As Leah digs deeper into old files, a second unsolved case surfaces with the same grisly pattern. While her shrewd young son, Abe, observes from the sidelines, Leah races to prevent another horrific murder, unaware of just how deep the roots of evil can go. Taut, suspenseful, and rich in Southern atmosphere, A Thorn Among The Lilies is a mesmerizing novel of loss and vengeance, and the lengths some will go to out of loyalty and love. -Kensington Books, 2015.

Christmas was barely two weeks away. Abe, Dewey, and Carry were watching the parade with their uncle. Then came the float with the mayor on it. With him was Officer Chris Jenkins and their mother Leah. Both Leah and Chris work for the Alvin police Department. Leah was a detective in a small police department. Carry’s birthday was coming up and for her birthday she wanted to go to a psychic and get a reading done. Leah had shook hands with the psychic- Madam Crystalle and than the psychic told Leah to sit in the chair. Even though Leah said the reading was for Caroline. But Madam Crystalle said there will be no charge . There were things Leah must know. Now before she lost them. Than the psychic said she saw a Maniac. A Tailor who deprives those of their sight. Very dangerous. Than she adds she saw a body, in darkness waiting. She seen writing on the body. She couldn’t see enough to read it. But remembered the number 78. It is important and remember the maniac tailor. Know that can save many lives over the coming time. Than she saw a sign Welcome To Gray…..but than it was gone. Than Madam Crystalle took out a deck of tarot cards to do Caroline’s reading. Leah had trouble sleeping that night with what the psychic had told her. But Leah was a logical woman and the psychic had made no sense.  Than a woman’s body was pulled out of Lake Willow in the morning. When they pulled the woman out of the water her eyes are sewn shut with black thread. On her chest was written ‘Justice is blind in the Eyes of the Lord.” Than the investigation goes on there could be a connection to a case with similarities in a town a couple of hours away.

I enjoyed this book. It was a good read that kept your attention. I liked Dewy and Abe and felt they added a lot to these book. I really liked the plot. This did drag for me some at times.  I really liked the family aspect of this. Although at different times I felt maybe a little too much on them. I really liked how Leah started solving old cases to try to find the killer. I enjoyed the characters in this book and the ins and outs and I recommend it.

Moonlight Reader started the TBR Thursday, and I think it's a good way to a) show what new books I've got and b) confront myself with my inability to lower my TBR. In fact, since I started recording it, it has risen significantly. I get the feeling I'm doing something wrong here...

So many books, so little time...