A Dozen Deadly Roses

by Kathy Bennett

Los Angeles Police Officer Jade Donovan is being hunted. There’s the lieutenant who’s out to get her, the psycho who’s stalking her and leaving dead roses at her door, but most frightening of all, she’s been assigned to partner with her son’s father, Mac Stryker. Mac doesn’t know he’s Donnie’s dad, and Jade will stop at nothing to prevent him from finding out and possibly taking away her son. She will protect and defend him at all costs. Mac Stryker is a cop with something to prove. Five years ago, he’d been forced to resign the police department in disgrace when he was too drunk to take action during a shooting. Now, Mac is sober, back on the force and back working with Jade Donovan, the rookie who’d saved his life. Worse, he finds himself attracted to Jade and her precocious son, Donnie. But Mac is through with love. The violent death of his wife and daughter turned him into an alcoholic, and he won’t put his job or his heart at risk again. He will protect and defend them both at all costs. But when the deadline looms on Jade’s dozen deadly roses stalker, will the two partners manage to put aside their differences in order to save their son? Kathy Bennett, a retired twenty-nine year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, has penned a gritty and authentic story of crime and romantic suspense in her novel, A Dozen Deadly Roses. In addition to working on her next novel, she writes a weekly blog that can be found on her website, and writes a monthly column for the North Valley Community News, in Northridge, California.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Romance, Crime, Fiction, Ebooks

198 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 3, 2011

About the author

Kathy Bennett is no stranger to murder and mayhem. After twenty-one years as a Los Angeles police officer, this retired cop’s authentic crime experience result in arresting stories.

As a police officer, most of Kathy’s career was spent working patrol in a black and white police car. Prior to retirement, Kathy was assigned as a Senior Lead Officer. Kathy also served as a Firearms Instructor at the LAPD Police Academy, a crime analyst in the ‘War Room’, a Field Training Officer, and worked undercover in various assignments. She was named Officer of the Quarter twice, and Officer of the Year once.

In 2011, Kathy her debut novel, A Dozen Deadly Roses was released. The e-book climbed the charts becoming a bestseller at both Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

In 2012, Kathy's second full-length suspense novel, A Deadly Blessing was released. That book is the first in the series featuring LAPD Detective Maddie Divine. A Deadly Blessing also became a bestseller at Amazon and Barnes and Noble who chose the book as a Best Nook Book for 2012.

Kathy's third book, A Deadly Justice released in the fall of 2013 and is climbing the charts. She is currently working on her next book.

Reviews

[Babs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jade has made someone mad for them to start sending dead roses to her house, work and or fathers house. As she is dealing with her boss who doesn't care what is going on, she gets her new partner. Once they meet they were both shocked as Mac use to be her training officer until a shooting happened and he was too drunk to help. Jade doesn't trust Mac, her philosophy, once a drunk always a drunk. She has learned that from her father a time or two. Her son Donnie has started to become close to Mac and neither one know they are father and son. Can Mac help Jade find out who is after her before they can hurt someone she loves or herself.

I stayed up till 2:45 am to finish this book. I got so engrossed I wanted to know who was after Jade. What did she do to make someone so mad to come after her and her family. Why was Mac back on the force and will he ever find out Donnie is his son?

Kathy does a wonderful job with the characters. Jade and Mac have a few misunderstandings along the way that keep their relationship on edge. Then we have Lasko. She is out to get anything she can on Jade to get her in trouble. I was loathing Lasko which was wonderful as Kathy did a great job with her character.

Kathy used her knowledge of being a retired LAPD police officer. I had no problem believing the things that happened in this book. I do hope there will be a second book soon. This is one author I will be following.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I thought the story line was great, and held the reader's attention. The characters were well thought out and each personality came through. A good mystery read that didn't pull you down with worthless information just to make more pages.

[Tee Tee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jade has been an officer for almost five years. The only trouble she had was when she shot a suspect during training. Now she is being taunted with gold florist’s boxes of dead roses. Each box containing one less rose. During this time she is told to train Mac Stryker. Mac used to be her training officer until he was found drunk when Jade shot her first suspect. After that night Jade never saw Mac again. Looking to redeem himself Mac joins the force again, clean and sober. Being partnered with Mac brings back old memories of their one night tryst and his failure as a training officer for Jade. They become close as they settle in as partners and Mac helps Jade with her stalker. While helping Jade, Mac also gets close to her son Donnie, who is secretly his. Jade doesnt know what to make of Mac because he reminds her of her father. “Once a drunk, always a drunk.” In the midst of dealing with Mac, the stalker has upped the ante. Jade isnt sure who to trust when she reports the harassment and by all accounts is dismissed. It could be anyone out to get her because of what she know’s or has done. Leaves you wondering if Jade and Mac can find the stalker on their own before it turns deadly.



It is hard to rate this book because i felt different ways while reading. I was not as engage about solving the crime but more interested in Jade and Mac relationship. I felt the overall pace of the mystery was slow and lacking real suspense. Which is weird because in the beginning of the book, I assumed it would be a juicy mystery. Kathy did a great job with the characters I became attached and spent the whole book yelling at Jade to stop being stubborn and tell Mac, Donnie was his son. Donnie saying “darn” when he couldn’t have something made me laugh a lot. The mystery it self was lacking. I did not feel the suspense until the end of the book and the perp was predictable. It did not have a lot of red herrings or plot twist that you would expect. This characters did keep me intrigued so i would recommend this book if you like to read about well developed characters.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jade Donovan is a Las Angeles Police officer,
and also a single mom.
She's assigned a new officer in training, who just happens
to be the same person who originally trained her 5 years earlier.
Before he was fired for being drunk on the job while his
newbie returned fire and killed a man.
Now someone's sending her dead roses, and the countdown is
getting low.
She can't trust the department to help so she's pulling an independent
investigation. The question is? Will it be "Too little too late for her and
her young son".

Pro's:
A solid story with developed characters and a plotline with enough action
you don't want to stop reading.

Con's:
While this is a good story, it's marketed as a thriller when in actuality it's
really a romantic suspense book.
I'd put it on par with Tess Gerritses's romantic suspense books.
But, it's a little heavier on the romance than Tess' books are.

I'd say this was an enjoyable book and I'll probably read at least the next in this series.

[Sheila Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy crime novels which are more than a story about a crime and how the police catch a killer. "A Dozen Deadly Roses" is no exception. Ms Bennett does such a great job of combining an exciting story about crime with the lives of the people wearing the badges. The characters come alive as the reader gets to know more about what drives them to do their job as well as the problems they face in their personal lives. The plot and characters jump off the pages and become real. I highly recommend this book.

[Andrea (mrsaubergine) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this debut by Bennett centred around Jade Donovan, which has a bit more romance than her later series featuring Jade’s next police partner. I loved Jade and Mac, was really rooting for them to get back together, and of course I just adored little Donnie. The stalker plotline was twisty and gripping, and again Bennett’s LAPD background made it sound all very authentic. Possibly my favourite book of hers so far.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, fast-paced police procedural with a good dose of romance and suspense. I loved the authenticity of the cop stuff, but also the authentic portrayal of alcoholics and those whose lives are affected by alcoholics, and the kid was adorably and authentically portrayed. Fantastic debut novel! If you're looking for an authentic cop story with a good dose of romance, this is a great pick!

[Shanique · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a really good book but the end seemed a bit rushed. Mind you I don’t mind a happy ending but it just seemed like it was lacking something.

[Cidney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jade Donovan is a police officer with a young son Donnie and is assigned Mac Stryker a rookie cop to train up. The only problem being that this cop is no rookie, he is the guy who trained her and was drunk on duty the night she had to shoot someone. He was thrown out, so she was surprised to find him back and in for training. She is drawn to him, after a one night stand 4-5yrs previously she had his son, he isn't aware of this. She also has a problem in that someone is sending her dead roses in a box each day but each day there is one less and a note saying watch out, what happens when there are no roses left?

She comes home to find her house has been broken into and things disturbed. She moves in to stay with her parents and Mac collects her each day for work, only one day he finds all the tyres on his car flat and begins to wonder what is happening in Jade's life. I wondered why he wasn't asking questions of her about the flowers as he'd picked up boxes from her doorstep, and as Jade says Donnie looks like Mac so how come he hasn't noticed? There were times when you wanted to shake her and say report the roses, report the stalker, you're a cop so do it. But she doesn't. It takes Mac to step in after the police find a dead woman's body in his bed. I did like the story and I did like the characters, the only thing is that I really could have shook that woman by the shoulders an say wake up and do something! Plus the little fella Donnie is really cute!!

[Yael · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This is a thriller concerning two police partners. I liked the authenticity of the police work. I also liked the characters and the romance.
It does feel dated through in its treatment of a cross-dress character so - I would give you a trigger warning that. I mean the character is treated with suspicion just because of his preferences - whereas he really is a good character with his only "crime" being a cross-dresser. I think that today this issue would have been treated differently. It would have been made clear that the issue would have been gossip about it spreading in the department and how that would threaten the character.
I guess it was true to the time this book was written but I wish it was handled differently.

[Patty U. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

I enjoy reading Kathy Bennett books. Overall a very amazing portrayal of like as law enforcement. There were several errors overlooked by proofreaders(?), I didn't care for the way Jade and Mac always dwelled on one thing. I didn't need reminding of this subject constantly. Get it out in the open or stop thinking about it so much. Jade and Mac are back working together again. It's been five years since Mac took retirement and is now a changed man. Their story will pull at your heartstrings

[Andrea (mrsaubergine) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this debut by Bennett centred around Jade Donovan, which has a bit more romance than her later series featuring Jade’s next police partner. I loved Jade and Mac, was really rooting for them to get back together, and of course I just adored little Donnie. The stalker plotline was twisty and gripping, and again Bennett’s LAPD background made it sound all very authentic. Possibly my favourite book of hers so far.

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was full of action and mystery. I had no idea who the killer was until the very end despite all of the clues. I loved the characters. I really enjoyed the love story behind all of the mystery. The writer kept my attention throughout the book. I am going to be following this author now and looking into more books from her too.

[karin whitehead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jade, a police officer, has attracted a stalker, sending her dead roses. Her case is being handled by Mac, who was her instructor, and things there weren't good. Can they resolve their issues in time to stop the stalker? Fast paced, good character development, plot was timely. All together a good read!

[Lillian Cummings · Rating 3 out of 5]

You need to find out why someone keeps sending your dead roses. But you haven't an idea on who is after you and now someone from your past is back. And Mac caused so much damage the last time you worked together so how can you trust him again? You have a secret that he needs to know but you are scared to let him in. But you might just need him this time. A good read

[Michele Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written with well defined characters. Kathy Bennett is a retired LAPD Officer who knows what she is writing about and I enjoy her books! This is a stand alone book and not part of her Maddie Devine series. This book is suspenseful and a great read.

[Myesha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like good crime novels however, this was more of an (extended) romance then anything else. For me the writing was good however, I gave it a low rating because the book dragged with the same ramblings.

[Jay Moeller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! So many twists and turns I didn't see coming, Thrilling story and terrific characters coupled with who is the bad guy? I heartily recommend this book to any mystery or thriller writer.

[Mike Bratek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great romantic thriller!

This is the perfect amount of romance mixed with fun and thrills! The fact that the flow of the characters and story plot is so well put together, makes this a fantastic read and become one of my favorite stories!

[Neena Christianson Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deadly stalker.

Someone is stalking Jade Donovan and the end goal is her death. Mac Stryker back on the police force is assigned to work with Jade and is soon embroiled in the plot to end her life.

[Linda Look · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jade is a police detective worried about how she is perceived in her department. When dead roses began showing up at her house, place of work & fathers, she doesn't want to show weakness at her work. As a single mother, she has a dark secret working against her. Fast read. I rate this a 4.8.

[Mailmanr5 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok but nothing special. Lots of cliched dialogue. Characters aren't too appealing. Writing style didn't appeal either. Plot was decent. Not a police procedural by any means since there was virtually no investigation. Things just happened.

[Carrie Garza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story.

[Jannene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. I wish I hadn’t put it off as long as I had.

[bobbi harris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow talk about bad

Take every cliche about any cop book and that's exactly what this book is. Wasted way too long of my life reading this.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the story with a good mixture of getting to know the characters a good twist keept me reading

[Patty U. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize I had read this book a couple yrs ago, but it was just as good the 2nd time around. I enjoy reading books by this author. She has a very realistic way of writing.

[helen roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roses

A well written and enjoyable read. The author has developed well rounded characters that interact well together. Will follow the series

[Shirley Clipson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deadly good read

Two weddings and a stalker, add to that a long held secret and a killer out for revenge and you've got a perfect crime story.

[Karenina Córdova · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the plot, but the end felt a little rushed to me.