ARC Review: Cold to the Bone by Emery Hayes

Cold to the Bone
Author: Emery Hayes
Series: A Nicole Cobain Mystery (Book 1)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (August 11, 2020)

Description: The brutal murder of a teenager and a deadly medical drama plunge a small-town sheriff into a vortex of treachery and greed in the debut novel of Emery Hayes's A Nicole Cobain Mystery series.

First female sheriff of Toole County, Montana Nicole Cobain earned the position through mental and physical grit and when a young girl is found murdered on icy Lake Maria, every bit of it is tested. But what begins as a chase for the killer quickly unravels into a high stakes medical transaction with harrowing consequences.

Eight years ago, Nicole fled her fast-track position as a homicide detective with the Denver Police Department in an act of desperation to save both her son and herself. Answering a recruitment ad, she showed up in the foothills of Glacier National Park and was elected sheriff six years later. She has a measure of peace in her new surroundings, her son is thriving, and she has effectively distanced herself from her past. Until Benjamin Kris shows up again.

Benjamin is the father of Nicole's son and a big-time charmer who has quickly scaled the crime ladder. He has a large clientele and is looking forward to a big pay day that lands him in Toole. But when it becomes clear he could be a suspect among several others in town with opportunity and motive, it's up to Nicole to sift through the tangled threads to find the killer before they strike again.

My Thoughts: This first book in the Nicole Cobain series begins with the murder of a teenager who is vacationing in the Montana mountains. Sheriff Cobain is the first female sheriff but her big city experience in Denver makes her a good fit for the job. She left Denver in order to get away from a man and to raise her son in a safer environment.

However, the man she left has finally come to find her and he has revenge on his mind. Benjamin has improved himself from a low-level drug dealer to a broker in much more lucrative and high-powered deals. The victim's father is in negotiations to sell his important medical discovery in an auction which has drawn the attention of the biggest pharmaceutical companies. Some of them want his discovery in order to suppress it and others want it for personal reasons.

While Nicole and her officers are trying to discover who murdered Beatrice Esparza and discovering quite a few suspects, Benjamin is getting closer and closer to making his dreams of revenge come true.

The story was tense and fast-paced. I liked that Nicole had something of a questionable background herself. I liked the interesting connections between the various drug companies and all the politics around a discovery that could change medicine.

Fans of medical thrillers would be a good audience for this one.

Favorite Quote:

Patience was not a virtue. Not in a homicide investigation.

Patience allowed a lead to run cold and a case to enter deep freeze. They were on a collision course with the midnight hour, and statistically speaking, that meant their chances of finding thie killer would take a nose dive.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.