Romantic Suspense
Date Published: May 16, 2014
Romantic Suspense
Date Published: May 16, 2014
Blurb:
Twenty-four years ago, the murder of a Chicago police
officer changed Joey DeLuca’s life. He lost his best friend and first
love, Meghan McConnell, when her mother whisked her out of town. Now, on
the eve of another officer’s death, Meghan is back and about to step into his
life again.
There is very little gray in Joey's line of work as a
Lt. Detective--it is either black or white, right or wrong. But Meghan’s
insistence on finding answers to her father's murder threatens those beliefs
and throws his marriage to CPD Detective Andi, his career, and the entire
DeLuca family in jeopardy when new revelations come to light.
Can Joey save his marriage, solve the murder, and keep
his family together all at the same time?
The third book in the DeLuca Family Series, TRUE blue can also be
enjoyed as a stand-alone novel.
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Lieutenant
Detective Joseph Anthony DeLuca Jr. of the Chicago Police Department knelt
beside the victim and lifted the edge of the plastic sheet to expose the
bloodied head and lifeless torso. His gut clenched. This never got easier, but
this guy was a cop, a detective under his own watch, and that fact irked him
even more.
“How the hell did
this happen?” he asked Sergeant Davis, the slain detective’s immediate
supervisor.
Oh, yes, he’d
gotten the quick initial briefing when he’d arrived on scene. A convenience
store robbery in progress. Shots fired. Officers responding, but before backup
could arrive, more shots fired, and then a car screaming down the street and
Detective Mark Beattie, pursuing on foot, struck down, his body flying through
the air on impact, his head smashing against the pavement when he landed.
“Why was he here
in the first place?” Lieutenant DeLuca added, ignoring the sweat that beaded on
his brow. The late afternoon heat was stifling. The August sun’s hot rays
radiated off the pavement. It didn’t help the sick feeling in his gut.
“He was following
up on a lead on a previous robbery attempt,” Sergeant Davis said, “questioning
a woman in the apartment across the street. As near as we can tell, he must
have heard the first gunshots and he ran outside to check it out.
“We got the call
at 3:47 for shots fired. According to witnesses, right after the first shots
were fired, a man wearing a ski mask ran out of the store and took off on foot.
Seconds later, another guy comes running out of the store, again wearing a ski
mask. From what we’ve put together so far, when the second suspect came out of
the store, Beattie called out that he was a police officer and told him to
stop. About the same time, a car pulled up in the parking lot and a woman
started to get out.
“The suspect
began shooting toward Beattie, and Beattie returned fire, but then the suspect
ran toward the woman’s car. He grabbed the woman and threw her aside so he
could get into the car. That’s when Beattie took off after him on foot, right
about the time another car came racing down the street. The car slammed into
him. Beattie didn’t have a chance. Near as we can figure, it was the getaway
car.
“The woman’s
sitting in one of the patrol cars. She’s pretty shook up. Her eleven-month-old
baby was in a car seat in the back. Both are okay. The suspect never made it
out of the parking lot. It seems Detective Beattie got off a fatal shot before
he was struck by the car. CSU is still working over the perp.”
Lieutenant
DeLuca’s jaw clenched as his eyes focused on the bloodied features of his
detective. Beattie was a good man, one of his best. He’d left a wife and two
children, middle school age. Just last week, the man was telling him about a
trip he was planning to take with his family to the Wisconsin Dells. He
remembered the light in Beattie’s eyes as he talked about how excited the kids
were.
“EMS worked on
him for a full twenty minutes before calling it,” Davis continued. “CSU found a
bullet hole in his neck and one in his chest. Not sure what really killed
him—the impact, the gunshots, or smacking his head on the pavement. Take your
pick.”
“What about the
owner of the convenience store?” DeLuca asked.
“Deceased.”
Lieutenant DeLuca
shook his head. “Are they done here?” He nodded down at Beattie.
“Just finished
up, for now.”
The lieutenant
eased the edge of the sheet down and said a silent prayer for his detective
before looking up again at Davis. “Then let’s get him the hell off the street.
Has his wife been notified?”
“I’ve already
sent one of our men over there.”
“We’re not
releasing his name until I know his wife’s been notified.”
“Right.”
“Any chance the
first guy out of the store is the same one that slammed into Beattie?”
The sergeant
shook his head. “I don’t know. The timing’s pretty tight. So far, none of the
witnesses have put the two together.”
“Then we’re
looking for a third suspect.”
“I think so. I’ve
got officers canvassing the area.”
Lieutenant DeLuca
glanced around at the crime tape surrounding the scene, at the crowd of gawkers
and media already assembled around the perimeter. He hoped their man got there
before word got to Beattie’s wife. With today’s instant information age, he was
sure the news of another cop killing in the city of Chicago was spreading like
wildfire across the airwaves, as well as the Internet. He glanced again at the
assembled media. They’d want an official statement soon.
“What about the
hit-and-run?”
“We’ve got a
description of the vehicle. Put an APB out on all channels. Nothing yet, but
we’ll find him, Lieutenant.”
“You’re damn
straight we’ll find him. What about the prior attempted robbery? Any leads
there?”
“We’re checking
the surveillance video. We’ll be putting a description of all the suspects out
within the hour, along with the video. Of course, they’re all wearing ski
masks, but who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky and somebody will recognize them.
The two robberies could be tied together.”
“Best guess?”
“Gang bangers.”
“In the middle of
the day?”
“A dare. An
initiation, maybe. Crazy what these punks are trying now.”
The lieutenant’s
stomach burned. No matter how hard they tried to clean up the streets, some
days it seemed like the gangs were getting the better of them.
His cell phone
buzzed. He reached into the inside pocket of his suit coat and pulled it out.
The caller ID indicated it was Andi, his wife.
Officer Andrea
DeLuca was a detective, too. She would have heard about the incident already.
She’d also know who was shot and that it wasn’t him.
Deciding he
wasn’t ready to talk to her about it just yet, he let the call go to voice mail.
Less than thirty seconds later, it buzzed again, this time indicating a text.
You okay?
He sighed and
texted back.
Yes.
Are you going to be able to make it to the
dinner tonight?
Damn, he’d pretty
much forgotten about the dinner. His sister Angela and her boyfriend had
invited the DeLuca clan, along with about fifty of their closest friends, to
the soft opening of her boyfriend’s bistro. His sister had been pretty adamant
about all of them attending.
He texted back, Chances
are, not. Go on without me.
Understand. Love you.
He paused for a
second and then typed, Me too, and hit send. Why did he hesitate? He didn’t exactly
know. Things had been tense between them lately, but he couldn’t quite put his
finger on why. Perhaps it was because he was up for a promotion soon and he was
working long hours to try to not screw it up. Between that and Andi’s own
dedication to their chosen line of work, it seemed they were spending less and
less time together. He glanced back down at Detective Beattie. The team had
returned and was now placing his body into a body bag. He frowned. Maybe it was
time he and Andi did some re-evaluating.
He was about to
slip the phone back into his pocket when it buzzed again. Glancing once more at
the caller ID, he didn’t recognize the number or the area code. It definitely
was not one of his fellow officers or a member of his family. Ignoring the call
for now, he slipped the phone back into his pocket and scanned the assembling
media again. No less than three satellite trucks had joined them.
According to his
cell phone, it was 4:53—just in time for the evening news. Loosening his tie,
he took a step toward them. The temperature was a searing ninety-seven degrees.
Add in the humidity and the heat index, it had to be about one hundred and
five. The heat didn’t help the tension in the streets. It was a well-known fact
that crime, including homicides, went up when the temperatures rose.
He glanced up at
the sky. They could use a cold front to come blowing through, complete with
thunderstorms. It would be a welcome relief.
But there wasn’t
a cloud in sight.
My review :
Meghan McConnell was the first love of Lieutenant Joey DeLuca. When they were teenagers she was forced to leave abruptly, her father was killed and she went with her mother to move to Arizona. After 24 years she backs to Chicago and enlists the help of Joey to solve the case of her father. This will create tension between him and his wife Andi: he has always told her everything, any problems on the job and now has to hide why is dating his old girlfriend. Joey will also find the murderess of his colleague.
It is really a great novel, well written and very realistic characters. Meghan is a woman haunted by the ghosts of the past, will be able to finally live her life if she has the answers about the death of her father. Andi is a very good mother policewoman and is very in love with her husband, she is tormented by the fear of losing him seeing him work closely with his childhood friend. Joey is a man devoted to his work and very much in love with his wife, has a huge dilemma: on the one hand must be fair with Andi, but the other feels the need to do his job and help an old friend in trouble. The rest of the family DeLuca is a framework in a sublime way.
It's a book truly compelling, intriguing, to be read in one breath, full of twists and turns, a perfect blend of mystery and romance
A must read for those who love romantic suspense.
4 stars and 1/2
Susan Rae
“I love writing romantic suspense because it allows me to combine a sexy, passionate love story with a gritty suspense tale—in my opinion, the best of both worlds. It also allows me to express my appreciation for the outdoors in the settings that I recreate on the page.”
Freefall, Susan’s second novel, takes place in Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine Forest and beautiful Door County. ICE blue returns to the busy streets of Chicago and the shores of Lake Michigan to continue the story of the DeLuca family which began in her award winning first novel, heartbeats. InTRUE blue, the third book in the DeLuca Family series, Susan was thrilled when it became apparent that her characters must take a trip to Montana’s majestic Glacier National Park.
When she is not sketching characters, you might find Susan on the golf course working on her handicap, or traveling around the country seeking out new settings for her novels with her husband and empty nest puppies, Ginger and Nikute. To read more about Susan’s novels and the writing life, please visit her website/blog at www.susanrae.com
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