I’m not sure how we never encountered Irene Hannon before, but after reading her novel Deceived (Private Justice, Volume 3), Dave and I got more of her books from the library. This review covers the three books in her Guardians of Justice series, Fatal Judgment, Deadly Pursuit and Lethal Legacy.
This series covers two brothers and their sister, all involved in justice-related fields, and their close encounters with vicious or deranged nut cakes. The books re-use the characters, with each sibling taking the spotlight in one book each.
Fatal Judgment
Jake Taylor is a US Marshal charged with protecting a US federal judge, Liz, the widow of Jake’s college best friend. Jake has bad feelings for Liz based on her husband’s comments before he died that blamed her for being a workaholic and cold, unloving. Liz needs security while the FBI and marshals investigate the murder of her sister which occurred at Liz’s home. Although everyone assumes that her sister’s estranged husband did the murder, they take no chances.
The book has two plot lines, one a straightforward suspense story about finding who was trying to kill Liz and why, and the second is the more interesting, the romance between Jake and Liz. Overall both are well done, although the suspense part was a bit implausible.
Hannon develops strong and likable characters. She puts a face on the villain and we see him as a person, not just a foil for Jake and Liz. I was a bit incredulous that the St. Louis police could drop everything and chase after one person like that, and I wondered what would have happened had the Liz not had the good fortune to have Jake involved. Jake’s brother Cole is a detective on the St. Louis force and I was struck several times at how they were able to call upon the resources of that police force even when uncertain that a crime was in the works.
Deadly Pursuit
Allison, sister to Jake and Cole, is a case worker at the Children’s Family Services. Like Liz, Allison gains the fatal attention of a disgruntled man, angry because his ex-girlfriend won’t take him back after he gets out of prison, and blames Allison for the girl friend’s stance.
Allison meets Cole’s friend, Mitch. We have the same combination of a suspense story and romance. This novel has the same strengths – excellent character and good story telling – as Fatal Judgment, and the same weaknesses. I thought it a bit over the top that someone would decide to kill a social worker to pay her back for the girl friend’s rejection. Even with the villain being a meth addict, this seemed a bit extreme and once again Mitch and Jake were able to call upon the resources of the police department in the nick of time.
Hannon makes her characters so believable that we can go along and ignore the weaknesses in the plot. I thought this villain was particularly well done, especially the parts where he realizes that he is walking a precipice.
Lethal Legacy
Younger brother Cole, police detective, is asked to look at a case that the prior detective, Alan, already closed as a suicide. The suicide’s daughter Kelly does not believe her father killed himself and pushed to get the case re-opened. Cole is attracted to her immediately and agrees to look further despite being skeptical that they will find anything to show murder.
Lethal Legacy had a few interesting twists and I enjoyed it as well. There were two villains, the murderer and the man who hired him, and neither was sympathetic. Had the murderer not tried to eliminate Kelly’s questions by killing her, he would have gotten away with it. There was not much evidence to overturn the suicide determination.
Maybe it was because this was the third in the series and I read all three within a few days, but I didn’t care for Lethal Legacy as much. The romance seemed a bit more contrived and the villains more hurriedly sketched than the others.
Overall
All three novels shared similar strengths and weaknesses. The would-be victim in all three was female (and it would be interesting to see Hannon turn it around and have the girl save the guy sometime) and all were in the right place and time to attract a man who was looking for the next step in life, ready to find a wife, come back to church, start a family.
The romance was well done, understated and not at all steamy, and we could see the characters falling in love as if it was inevitable. The suspense part was also done well, assuming we bought into the basic premise.
I am glad I picked the first book, Deceived, up off the end cap at the library!
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