Book Review: FINLEY CREEK (BOOKS 1-3 - The Marshall Murders by Calle J. Brookes

I'll admit it. I binge read the first three books in this series. It would be hard to review them separately as they are intertwined. Undeniably, overlapping. These are romantic suspense, not cozy. They include violence, profanity...  

HER BEST FRIEND'S KEEPER (Finley Creek Book 1)

Ten years. Three months. Sixteen days. 

She hasn't felt safe in ten years, three months, and sixteen days.

As a teenager Gabby Kendall witnessed the execution of her best friend's family. Those images haunt her every day. 

Now... Now the killers are back. They know who she is, where she lives, and who her friends are. They know everything about her... He has the TSP to run, and a woman to protect... 

Elliot Marshall had lost almost his entire family when they'd been murdered ten years ago. Now he is back in Finley Creek, searching for the killers. Elliot isn't about to let anyone hurt the woman who had been his murdered sister's best friend. The only place she feels safe is next to him. But the price of that safety may be someone else close to her. Close to him. And one thing is clear: they can't lose someone else they love like that ever again... 

AMAZON

SHELTER FROM THE STORM (Finley Creek Book 2) 

Murder. Secrets. A killer still watching her... 

Brynna Beck has plans for her future. The Finley Creek Texas State Police is just a stepping stone for her. Nothing is going to sway her from her path--and she's stubborn enough to go after what she wants. When Brynna discovers new information on a ten-year-old murder case she gains the wrong sort of attention.

He wants answers... Former Texas Ranger Chance Marshall has spent ten years searching for the men who'd slaughtered his family. He has nothing more now than he had back then--until Brynna. She promises him the answers to his questions--if he promises to take her home to Finley Creek. To get the answers he needs, Chance will have to keep Brynna safe--while the storm rages around them. 

AMAZON

THE PRICE OF SILENCE (Finley Creek Book 3)

She's always been the Protector. That will never change. Melody Beck has always taken care of her younger sisters. Now that it really matters, she's failed. Her younger sister has just barely escaped a band of vicious killers.

All signs now point to the richest man in Texas being the mastermind behind the attacks. He is still out there. Coming for her sister. Melody is going to see he pays for what he did. But going after him means dealing with the one man she never wants to see again. The billionaire's son. The one man she's been trying so hard to forget. 

His father isn't a killer. He needs a way to prove it.  Houghton Barratt knows the media outlets reporting his father was involved in the Marshall Murders are lying. There is no way his father would have harmed an innocent family. 

The only way Houghton can fix this is by going after the woman accusing his father and convince her to tell the truth. Even if his own plans for her older sister aren't exactly on the up and up. 

The older Beck sister is his real target now. Melody is coming with him—whether she wants to or not. Houghton is right there in front of her before Melody can even begin to escape. Now, she is a hostage, a pawn in his game. A game he intends to win. 

But as Houghton tangles with Melody, the real mastermind is getting closer. Closer than they could imagine. Only this time he's focusing on Melody—and the sisters she'll do anything to protect. Houghton makes Melody a vow he would willingly die to keep: Melody will not be the price Houghton pays for his father…

AMAZON

Review

The setting is Finley Creek, Texas and Elliott Marshall has returned home to take over as the Chief for the Texas State Police - and to finally find the people who killed his parents, sister, and brother. As he walks through the TSP facilities, he recognizes on of two women working IT. Gabby Kendall. She'd been on the webcam with his sister when the murders occurred, pressed record, and called 9-1-1. Gabby is constantly afraid the killers will come after her. They've emailed her on and off over past 10 years. She only goes home and to work with her best friend, Brynna. They code and program and everything else for the forensic evidence section. 

Brynna has autism but is very intelligent. With Gabby's help (and Lacy's), she has created a program to validate video evidence - or to unalter it if it has been altered. She feels for her friend always afraid. She follows all the rules for signing out evidence and takes a copy of the video capturing the murder to test her program, when she goes to meet someone who wants to buy it from her.  Her program works and she unalters the video to reveal a 5th man. She finds out Chance Marshall, Elliott's brother, is in the same town and insists he drive her back to Finley Creek. On the way back, two cars plow into them and drag her out of the car, grabbing her laptop as well. Chance does his best to defend her and eventually they escape, with injuries. In the process, another man tries to help Brynna get away. She recognizes the man. 

Brynna and Chance are recovering, everyone is upset with Brynna's identification, and there are definite concerns that someone in the Finley TSP is corrupt. How else would they know she had taken a copy of the video clip? Elliott and Chance's father partnered with Beck - Brynna's father. Both the Marshall men recall seeing all the Beck redheads at their house, as well as Gabby. The oldest of the Beck daughters, Melody also was TSP before she was injured, and always protected her sisters, especially Brynna because of her special needs, as well as Gabby. Melody is still recovering, partially paralyzed, but insistent she will protect them. That Brynna identified the man when they were attacked as the Hadley Barrett - the richest man in Texas - didn't go over very well. Not only that, Houghton Barrett had been searching for Melody ever since they met and she walked out on him. 

It takes reading all three books to put the pieces together. The first book provides some of the background, the basics of the attack on Brynna and Chance, and a hint of the relationship between Melody and Houghton. Book 2 further expands Chance and Bryanna's parts and the rest of the Beck family. Book 3 is Melody and Houghton. With each book the five unknown men who killed the Marshalls is slowly whittled down to two and then none. 

Why'd I binge read them? They are well-written, with constant tension and action, twists and turns. The characters are well-crafted from Gabby still in fear for her life, Brynna with her autism, and the two Marshall brothers still unable to find resolution. Melody, Jillian, Syd, Carrie, and others add to the puzzle pieces. I'll definitely be reading the rest of the series!

Finley Creek Series

Her Best Friend's Keeper

Shelter From the Storm 

The Price of Silence 

If the Dark Wins 

Wounds That Won't Heal 

Hope for Finley Creek 

As the Night Ends 

Before the Rain Breaks 

Lost in the Wind 

Walk Through the Fire 

We All Sleep Alone 

Stand Next to Me 

About the Author

C.J. Brookes lives in central Indiana with her husband of fifteen years, their ten-year-old daughter, four-year-old lump of a beagle, elderly but diabolically clever border collie, evil border collie puppy, four demanding ducklings, one garden snail who lives in her child's bathroom, and a rogue cardinal named Carl and his wife Carla. Recently, they added a garden toad, Neville Toadbottom, to their tiny zoo. 

Best known for her romantic suspenses, she has been writing for more than twenty years, and has more than seventy novels and novellas published.