I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When the Tiger Kills (Cimarron/Melbourne Thriller, #1) by Vanessa Prelatte
Genres: Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 243
Goodreads

Can a Serial Killer Be Stopped Before It Is Too Late? Detective Dawn Cimarron and her partner, Sergeant Rafe Melbourne, are hard at work trying to close not one, but two major cases in their hometown of Mountpelier, Colorado. In the first case, a college student has been found lying at the foot of a cliff, and his girlfriend has disappeared, the apparent victim of a kidnapping plot. And all indications point to one inevitable conclusion: a serial killer is on the loose – a clever and resourceful killer who seems to be equally obsessed with visions of an ancient goddess and young girls with long, pale blonde hair. The second case involves a young man who has been stabbed to death, his body left under a tree. At first it looks like a simple drug deal gone wrong. However, after encounters with the victim’s angry, bitter stepsister and his self-absorbed, histrionic mother, the two detectives begin to suspect that there is more to this case than meets the eye. With the help of Dawn’s husband Ty, a retired Air Force major now in charge of the local unit of the Civil Air Patrol, Dawn and Rafe work to bring a murderer to justice, even as they race against the clock to find the missing girl – before her time runs out.

When I first entered this story I thought it was just going to be a ‘simple’ plot about two detectives solving cases – but that is not the case. While the two murders Dawn and Rafe are trying to solve are the prominent plot, there are many subplots about the characters. The book touches on problems within families, romantic relationships and personal trauma. While these subplots have very little to do with the cases (some of them do, but that’s a spoiler!), they offer a great insight to the characters lives and history.

I definitely preferred one case over the other because I knew how one was going to end – but that may be because I watch way too much Investigation Discovery.

The story follows many characters. First there is Rafe, Dawn’s partner and basically her family. His family took her in after an unfortunate incident took her family away from her. My only issue with his character is that I wish there was more. He’s a very important person in Dawn’s life, but I feel like he’s just her partner. I wished to see more of their brother-sister relationship come out in their scenes together.

Then there’s Ty, Dawn’s husband. He’s incredibly rich, funny, charming and probably the most understanding husband in fiction. He’s so understanding of Dawn’s need for her own space, that their house is actually a duplex so they each have their own side. That’s not to say they are an unhappy couple, it’s what works for them. Their relationship is definitely a unique one. He’s also the only person that brings Dawn out of her shell so she can be herself.

Dawn is the one you spend most of the time reading about. She had a traumatic childhood that explains why she wanted to become a detective (and why the case matters to her, but again, spoiler!). I’m not sure how to feel about her because I feel like there were mixed messages. Throughout the book, she is a very closed off character, acting distant from her husband and family. I think this may be because of the stress the two cases are bringing her because Ty repeatedly mentions how she will come back around when the cases are solved and how much his mother and her hit it off. I’d like to see that side of Dawn as well because she’s a very sullen character – like a cloud of sadness is above her at all times.

Also, after reading all their backgrounds, all I could think about was how the people of Mountpelier have some horrible luck. Seriously, I feel bad for them.

This book reads like an episode of CSI. I’d like to call it CSI: Mountpelier.

It’s written in multiple POV from Dawn, Ty, Rafe and some other side characters that have short scenes. The way it’s written reminds me of watching a movie or television show. The way it transitions from one POV to the other is not by separating chapters, but rather how the scene works (it also does it through new paragraphs). But let me explain the scene transitions. There is a scene in which Dawn is walking into her house, she’s about to go upstairs to change when she hears on the baby monitor that Ty is upstairs with his father. She’s listening to their conversation but then it smoothly transitions to Ty and his father walking downstairs and into the kitchen, while Dawn is now out of the scene and upstairs. There are multiple times this happens in the book and it’s like watching a movie – it’s a unique way of writing a story with multiple POV. If you aren’t paying attention well enough, you might not even see it happen.

The pacing is a bit scattered. There were times that it got very slow while Dawn and Rafe were following up on leads but then when they finally found something, it picked up. Especially halfway through the book, when a certain curveball is thrown at you and you want to know what happens. Also, this pacing (I feel) is realistic to how solving a case would actually be. Obviously, I am not a detective but it’s not like they would follow one lead and instantly solve the case.

This book has a lot going for it. There are not one, but two, interesting cases the detectives need to solve – one is a race against time that definitely adds to the suspense. The characters all have interesting backgrounds (that I want to know more about) and the relationship between all of them is that of a big, dysfunctional family. While at times it can be slow, there are surprises that will keep you wanting to know whodunnit. If you enjoy crime thrillers, this is definitely a book for you.

Rating Report
Plot
Characters
Writing
World Building
Overall:	4 / 5