Blood Matters

Roxanne Prescott #2

by Taffy Cannon

Everybody loved adoption guru Sam Brennan, the founder and head of Adoption Central, whose life’s work was the creating loving adoptive families and reuniting birth relatives—until somebody beat him to death with a statuette of Michael Jackson. Who could have wanted to hurt the man who did such wonderful things for so many grateful people? Roxanne Prescott, now a detective in the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, is part of the team investigating the mysterious murder. Roxanne must wrestle her own haunting nightmare, along with rookie nerves and a hiden killer from the past. Cannon's lively, sassy writing zones in on contemporary Southern California lifestyles and characters.

Genres: Mystery

240 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

Eileen Emily Cannon aka Emily Toll

Taffy Cannon is the author of thirteen mysteries, including Guns and Roses (2000), which was an Agatha Award nominee and Macavity Award Best Novel nominee, and Blood Matters (2007), winner of the Best Mystery/Thriller in the San Diego Book Awards. Anyone who has ever had difficulty with a health insurance company will appreciate “Instant Karma,” her short story in the recent San Diego Noir (2011) anthology. She also runs a professional organizing business and is a multi-term president of the Friends of the Carlsbad Library, for which she manages a bookstore that earns $100,000 a year for the Library.

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#2 in the Roxanne Prescott series. This second and final book in the series follows Guns and Roses (2000) by seven years. There is a similar gap in the protagonist's life - which causes some narrative problems. In the first book, Roxanne was on leave from the Austin, TX police department and working as a tour guide after her partner was killed on duty. Now after several years working for her aunt's travel company, Roxanne has joined the San Diego, CA Sheriff's Department and worked her way up to be a homicide detective. She may be a fledgling homicide detective but she comes across as very tentative for an experienced police officer. She is a likeable character and the story moves well, but the motive for the killing comes out of thin air after the killer has been apprehended.

Roxanne Prescott series - the homicide detective and her colleagues at the San Diego Sheriff's Department search for clues to the murder of adoption agency CEO Sam Brennan, found in his home bludgeoned to death with a statuette of Michael Jackson. The host of suspects includes Brennan's two ex-wives and a lover. The complex web of mystery intensifies when Prescott unearths information about the extent of Brennan's wealth, his eclectic collections, tell-all book deal and his agency's niche business of reuniting adopted children with their birth families.

[Mark Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

When adoption guru Sam Brennan is found bludgeoned to death in his house, it starts San Diego Sheriff Department detective Roxanne Prescott on a trail of long hidden secrets. The plot was uneven and really seemed to slow down in second half.

Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cannon is very good at developing most of the characters in her books, not just the majors. 4 stars, not just my usual 3.

[Jenine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to give it a 2 and 3/4. Pleasant but not quite together.

[Sabra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whew! Much better than the first. The mystery and people were more intersting.