Comes out next Tuesday...
It is October as Bitter Fall: A Detective
Justice Novel by Bruce Robert Coffin begins. It is just after midnight on
a desolate stretch of Maine roadway. Red and blue strobe lights from various emergency
vehicles as well as portable floodlights keep the darkness at bay. For Maine
State Police Detectives Brock Justice and Chloe Wright, what was already along
day is about to get way longer.
A woman is dead in the roadway. Nearby, a dark SUV
is on its crumpled roof with the front end of the vehicle smashed up against a
huge pine tree. While the scene looks like the typical car versus pedestrian
type situation, it isn’t. Homicide Detectives from the Major Crimes Unit North
out of the Troop E barracks in Bangor are not called out to investigate fatal motor
vehicle accidents.
They were told to make the ninety-minute drive, one
way, not simply because Summer Randall is dead in the road. There is no doubt
that the vehicle hit her. She is dressed in running clothes and may have come
off of any number of nearby trails before being struck in the roadway. But the drunk
driver, Jonathan Watters, probably did not kill her.
What killed her, in all likelihood, was a stab wound
into her stomach. Dr. Ginny Waite from the medical examiner’s office believes she
was stabbed some time shortly before she was hit by the car. That she was
bleeding heavily internally and her body was failing her before she made it out
on the roadway to be hit by the impaired driver. The discovery of a blood trail
in the nearby woods means the medical examiner was right.
Meanwhile, Greenville, Maine, has a population of approximately
1400 people. That means the victim is well known among the locals. So too is
her ex-boyfriend. He could be their prime suspect, but at the same time, other people
also had reason to kill.
What follows is a complicated case full of twists,
turns, and dead ends. It isn’t the only case Detective Justice is working either
as he is continuing to pursue his suspicions about his exonerated former
partner.
Building on the events of Crimson Thaw,
Bitter Fall powers along at a steady pace that tightly holds the
attention of the reader. Character building continues here at a slower pace as
the main focus is investigating and solving cases.
A main aspect also seems to be aimed squarely at making
the reader hungry for massive sized cinnamon buns.
A mighty good read in what is a very good series.
The third book in the series, Dark Harbor, is currently scheduled
to be released in August. One hopes that might be moved to a sooner date.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4j71YvJ
Published by Severn River Publishing, my digital ARC
came direct from the author with no expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
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