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Detective Ellie MacIntosh #2
Charred: An Ellie MacIntosh Thriller
It's the hottest summer on record. The streets are shimmering, walking outside is like walking into a furnace, and yet, someone is still setting fires…
Milwaukee homicide detective Ellie MacIntosh is called to an arson scene. She finds bewildered home owners, an unidentified corpse, and cryptic clues that lead nowhere. Is it a random killing? The ritualistic nature of the crime points to no, and Ellie fears that the already-oppressive summer is just starting to heat up.
Ellie doesn't like her obnoxious new partner, Jason Santiago. That's fine with Jason―he doesn't like her either. When Ellie becomes convinced that their investigation is tied to a cold case, Jason finds himself grudgingly starting to agree. It might be hot as hell outside, but the details of the brutal homicide chill him to the bone…
As fires rage and the body count rises, Ellie and Jason must put their personal disagreements aside to catch a ruthless killer. The heat is on.
Charred is the second book in the thrilling Detective Ellie MacIntosh suspense series by Kate Watterson.
Milwaukee homicide detective Ellie MacIntosh is called to an arson scene. She finds bewildered home owners, an unidentified corpse, and cryptic clues that lead nowhere. Is it a random killing? The ritualistic nature of the crime points to no, and Ellie fears that the already-oppressive summer is just starting to heat up.
Ellie doesn't like her obnoxious new partner, Jason Santiago. That's fine with Jason―he doesn't like her either. When Ellie becomes convinced that their investigation is tied to a cold case, Jason finds himself grudgingly starting to agree. It might be hot as hell outside, but the details of the brutal homicide chill him to the bone…
As fires rage and the body count rises, Ellie and Jason must put their personal disagreements aside to catch a ruthless killer. The heat is on.
Charred is the second book in the thrilling Detective Ellie MacIntosh suspense series by Kate Watterson.
320 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2013
22 people are currently reading
282 people want to read
About the author
Kate Watterson
32 books91 followersWriting as both Emma Wildes and Katherine Smith, Kate Watterson has over thirty published books to her credit, plus five Eppie nominations, one Eppie win for best historical erotic in 2007, a RWA Lories win, WisRWA 2005 final for best historical romance, and is a CAPA nominee. She loves suspense and to write erotic stories in the genre is a special treat.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
April 29, 2014
Excellent read, very well written, and very suspenseful!
Really like Kate Watterson's writing style - each chapter starts out from the serial killer's view, a short paragraph or two at first, then longer as the story progresses. And who exactly is the serial? I got the tingly's a couple of times, but didn't click to who it was until close to the end of the book. But now that I think about it, there were tiny hints, I just missed them.
A little bit of romance with some angst thrown in.
Like this series and highly recommend it! Some new characters to get to know - maybe like, maybe not.
2 thumbs up and 5 stars
Really like Kate Watterson's writing style - each chapter starts out from the serial killer's view, a short paragraph or two at first, then longer as the story progresses. And who exactly is the serial? I got the tingly's a couple of times, but didn't click to who it was until close to the end of the book. But now that I think about it, there were tiny hints, I just missed them.
A little bit of romance with some angst thrown in.
Like this series and highly recommend it! Some new characters to get to know - maybe like, maybe not.
2 thumbs up and 5 stars
April 25, 2013
I think I would have enjoyed this more if I had connected to the characters more than I did. The suspense angle was well done and I was genuinely surprised at who the killer was. I would consider this straight suspense, not romantic suspense.
Overall rating: 3.5/5.0 stars.
Reviewed for Affaire de Coeur Magazine. http://affairedecoeur.com.
Overall rating: 3.5/5.0 stars.
Reviewed for Affaire de Coeur Magazine. http://affairedecoeur.com.
December 15, 2024
Enfin terminé. Écriture très ordinaire, suspense qui pourrait-être intéressant si l’écriture était plus intelligente ; américaine ou le « look good » et le sexe sont très importants ; bref j’était curieuse de la finale , ce qui m’a amené à finir la lecture, mais très contente que ce soit derrière moi.
July 23, 2018
Good story line that keeps you engrossed to the final page.
December 15, 2022
Was very interesting kept moving right along. Was a really good book.
January 29, 2023
I did not predict who was going around Greendale burning everyone from his past but this is a fast paced book with great character development.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 11, 2025
good read
This was a bit more intriguing than Frozen. Interesting flow. More development of characters. Maybe a little slow to start, but def stepped up.
This was a bit more intriguing than Frozen. Interesting flow. More development of characters. Maybe a little slow to start, but def stepped up.
June 3, 2013
Charred is Kate Watterson’s newest book in Ellie Macintosh series. Ellie proved her detective skills in the frozen Wisconsin woods tracking a serial killer in the first book, Frozen. Once again, she’s the new kid on the block, this time in the city of Milwaukee during a brutal summer heat wave. Her partner, Jason Santiago, resents her college background and doubts her ability. He doesn’t bother to hide his dislike either.
Santiago would resent her more, if he knew, Ellie is his partner because it is a last ditch attempt to smooth over his rough edges and tame his cowboy ways. Too many complaints about the outspoken Santiago from both the public and his partners land him with Ellie.
It’s a tough game having to prove her worth with every new police force. She chose to move with Bryce, a former suspect, to Milwaukee. Of course, she has to keep her personal life quiet. It is never good to let people know she became romantically involved with a suspect. It tends to kill promotions. She finds herself with an obnoxious cop who models himself on the old television show, Miami Vice. Too bad, no one told him it was a show.
Macintosh and Santiago are on the trail of an arsonist who not only burns houses in the middle of a heat wave, but he also equips the houses with victims on makeshift altars. The houses and the victims have no obvious connection. The sweltering city is in uproar never knowing where the arsonist will strike next. The mismatched partners are on a race to put together the clues from the latest arson to predict the next one.
Charred seethes with summer heat, repressed anger and the strange machinations of an arsonist who has a list of people he needs to burn. Ellie battles her own issue with Bryce while trying to decide if she’s able to trust him. The carefully crafted details make you feel the grit of the city and the superheated air. It is easy to understand Ellie’s frustrations as she fends off Santiago’s insulting remarks and sexist humor.
Charred is excellent summer suspense, especially if like your stories hot and running on eight cylinders. This is book two of the Ellie Macintosh series.
Santiago would resent her more, if he knew, Ellie is his partner because it is a last ditch attempt to smooth over his rough edges and tame his cowboy ways. Too many complaints about the outspoken Santiago from both the public and his partners land him with Ellie.
It’s a tough game having to prove her worth with every new police force. She chose to move with Bryce, a former suspect, to Milwaukee. Of course, she has to keep her personal life quiet. It is never good to let people know she became romantically involved with a suspect. It tends to kill promotions. She finds herself with an obnoxious cop who models himself on the old television show, Miami Vice. Too bad, no one told him it was a show.
Macintosh and Santiago are on the trail of an arsonist who not only burns houses in the middle of a heat wave, but he also equips the houses with victims on makeshift altars. The houses and the victims have no obvious connection. The sweltering city is in uproar never knowing where the arsonist will strike next. The mismatched partners are on a race to put together the clues from the latest arson to predict the next one.
Charred seethes with summer heat, repressed anger and the strange machinations of an arsonist who has a list of people he needs to burn. Ellie battles her own issue with Bryce while trying to decide if she’s able to trust him. The carefully crafted details make you feel the grit of the city and the superheated air. It is easy to understand Ellie’s frustrations as she fends off Santiago’s insulting remarks and sexist humor.
Charred is excellent summer suspense, especially if like your stories hot and running on eight cylinders. This is book two of the Ellie Macintosh series.
April 22, 2013
“The way I see it if the saints can experience divine visions, why can’t the sinners?”
This quote by the elusive pyromaniac/serial killer nicknamed The Burner provides the chills and thrills in the second Detective Ellie MacIntosh novel by Kate Watterson. CHARRED follows Ellie and her new partner, Jason Santiago, as they traverse the Milwaukee area to catch a killer with a deadly and fiery agenda.
Set during an unusually hot summer, the work of a serial arsonist is just the thing to turn up the oven-like heat by several degrees. The killer has mostly struck in broad daylight and uses a form of accelerant to not only burn the houses he chooses to the ground but also successfully cover up the evidence on the bodies he leaves behind.
Ellie and Jason do not have much to work on and the only pattern The Burner seems to have left behind is that the remains found at each fire all appear to be female. Each chapter opens with a peek inside the mind of the killer. The killer not only seems to be aware of each move the police make but also remains a step ahead of them at each turn. Houses continue to burn leaving behind charred corpses as the only form of evidence and the police seem incapable of stopping this madman.
Kate Watterson has created a novel that builds tension with each passing chapter and drops enough clues for shrewd mystery fans to piece together. Ellie MacIntosh is quickly isolated in this novel as she even distrusts her new partner. Her personal life is already complicated by the fact that her live-in lover was a lead suspect in her last case. The fact that the killer may be closer than she can imagine will keep readers frantically turning the pages long into the night with this well-plotted mystery. Here’s hoping Watterson has more Ellie MacIntosh cases up her sleeve.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Suspense Magazine
This quote by the elusive pyromaniac/serial killer nicknamed The Burner provides the chills and thrills in the second Detective Ellie MacIntosh novel by Kate Watterson. CHARRED follows Ellie and her new partner, Jason Santiago, as they traverse the Milwaukee area to catch a killer with a deadly and fiery agenda.
Set during an unusually hot summer, the work of a serial arsonist is just the thing to turn up the oven-like heat by several degrees. The killer has mostly struck in broad daylight and uses a form of accelerant to not only burn the houses he chooses to the ground but also successfully cover up the evidence on the bodies he leaves behind.
Ellie and Jason do not have much to work on and the only pattern The Burner seems to have left behind is that the remains found at each fire all appear to be female. Each chapter opens with a peek inside the mind of the killer. The killer not only seems to be aware of each move the police make but also remains a step ahead of them at each turn. Houses continue to burn leaving behind charred corpses as the only form of evidence and the police seem incapable of stopping this madman.
Kate Watterson has created a novel that builds tension with each passing chapter and drops enough clues for shrewd mystery fans to piece together. Ellie MacIntosh is quickly isolated in this novel as she even distrusts her new partner. Her personal life is already complicated by the fact that her live-in lover was a lead suspect in her last case. The fact that the killer may be closer than she can imagine will keep readers frantically turning the pages long into the night with this well-plotted mystery. Here’s hoping Watterson has more Ellie MacIntosh cases up her sleeve.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Suspense Magazine
July 2, 2013
2nd in the Ellie MacIntosh series (not counting the e-book short), I liked this one more than the 1st in the series (Frozen). Ellie is a bit more flushed out and we learn some more of her quirks ... the things that make her such an intuitive homicide detective. This time around she is now in Milwaukee working with a new partner ... Jason Santiago ... who has issues of his own. He's rude, resents that he is now partnered with a female, especially one who is so well known for solving a previous serial killer spree, but in his own way, he's a bit likeable.Well, likeable might be a stretch, but as you see him work, you see that there is hope. There's another serial killer on the loose. This one abducts mostly women, kills them, moves their bodies to other locations and places them on a table and burns the body and the entire location to ashes. They leave no clues, no fingerprints, no ties between the victims. Ellie and Jason may have met their match especially when a profiler tells them it may be another cop. The mystery is a good one and keeps you interested. I like the characters and I'm really looking forward to the next in this series.
September 11, 2013
Homicide Detective Ellie MacIntosh has moved to Milwaukee and one of her first cases points to a serial killer. The ritualistic elements of the murder point to someone who has perpetrated this type of crime before. Ellie is partnered with an obnoxious jerk, Detective Jason Santiago, with whom she shares a mutual dislike. Yet, it won’t keep them from following the trail which will start frozen and grow to an inferno.
‘Charred’ is the second full novel in the Ellie MacIntosh series and it focuses more on Ellie than on her (now) boyfriend, Bryce Grantham, (see ‘Frozen’) and we see more of who Ellie is both personally and professionally. The mystery moves along quickly with interspersed views through the eyes and thoughts of the killer. I enjoyed ‘Charred’ very much as I felt it flowed very well, the mystery kept me intrigued, and the characters were memorable. I'm really looking forward to the next book in this series!
Detective Ellie MacIntosh series: Frozen (1), Thaw (1.5), Charred (2), Buried (3)
‘Charred’ is the second full novel in the Ellie MacIntosh series and it focuses more on Ellie than on her (now) boyfriend, Bryce Grantham, (see ‘Frozen’) and we see more of who Ellie is both personally and professionally. The mystery moves along quickly with interspersed views through the eyes and thoughts of the killer. I enjoyed ‘Charred’ very much as I felt it flowed very well, the mystery kept me intrigued, and the characters were memorable. I'm really looking forward to the next book in this series!
Detective Ellie MacIntosh series: Frozen (1), Thaw (1.5), Charred (2), Buried (3)
July 3, 2016
A few years ago when this had just come out, I grabbed it and then for whatever reason I didn't read it. So a few days ago I picked it up and didn't want to put it down once I started it. I love mysteries and this one was quite awesome. I really liked the italicized text at the beginning of each chapter; it gives some insight to the serial killer's thinking. The ending was killer.. No pun intended. I was totally surprised and that's a great way to write a mystery, keep the reader guessing. Well done!!
October 17, 2015
17/20
En bref, j'ai passé un très bon moment avec Ellie et sa clique. J'ai pris plaisir à retrouver les "anciens" du premier tome et à en découvrir de nouveaux. L'intrigue est vraiment bien faite et l'auteur nous entraine d'une main de maitre dans les méandres de la folie d'un assassin. A découvrir pour ses personnages et leur histoire !
http://www.leslecturesdemylene.com/20...
En bref, j'ai passé un très bon moment avec Ellie et sa clique. J'ai pris plaisir à retrouver les "anciens" du premier tome et à en découvrir de nouveaux. L'intrigue est vraiment bien faite et l'auteur nous entraine d'une main de maitre dans les méandres de la folie d'un assassin. A découvrir pour ses personnages et leur histoire !
http://www.leslecturesdemylene.com/20...
October 20, 2016
Watterson is a master at what I call the regional mystery genre--- that is the mystery takes place somewhere other than NY or LA. Wisconsin is not the typical site for murder mysteries. Good character development, story line and overall plot. Mystery lovers looking for a change of pace should give her works a try.
June 26, 2013
Excellent! I went back and read Thawed as soon as I finished this because I was missing that part of the story. Can't wait for the next one but I will have to take the day off so I can read it straight through. Too much happening to have to stop. Love the extensive scene descriptions!
July 5, 2013
Watterson as a mystery writer is really growing on me. I love that each chapter starts out with the thoughts of the killer. The killer tends to stay a mystery through out the book and tends to turn out to be someone you would not think to expect.
May 3, 2015
The suspense was good, but there was little "romance"; the romance was established (very efficiently) in the first book. Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the book was diminished by some typos; I can usually ignore them, but there were enough that my brain started to look for more.
August 10, 2015
Interesting, a serial arsonist/murderer with a specific purpose in mind. I was a little worried about the direction the romance would take, but so far, so good. Will it remain so in the third book? Time will tell.
Notes: Rated R for language and bedroom scenes.
Notes: Rated R for language and bedroom scenes.
August 31, 2016
This was the first book I've read of this author. I was pleasantly surprised. Following the story line, the characters, etc was easy. Something I've had a hard time doing lately. I was kept guessing to the last quarter of the book before I had it figured out. Truly enjoyed the book.
November 28, 2016
L écriture (ou la traduction ?) approximative est un peu rebutante au démarrage, les personnages manquent de finesse, l intrigue n est pas super originale, mais le rythme prend peu à peu, et au final ça se lit très vite et c est quand même assez distrayant.
February 2, 2023
Charred
This was the second book by Watterson I have finished in the past 24 hours. And I am about to start a third! THAT should tell you just how good these Ellie MacIntosh stories are!! Check her books out!!
This was the second book by Watterson I have finished in the past 24 hours. And I am about to start a third! THAT should tell you just how good these Ellie MacIntosh stories are!! Check her books out!!
February 17, 2017
Slow start but the second half was much better. I was suprised by the ending.
February 28, 2014
I liked it a lot but the main character makes me crazy! I want to jump in the book and shake her!!
February 7, 2014
This a well done. Thriller/Mystery set in Milwaukee, WI. Nice characterization, and the story moved along quite well. I will be checking out her other books in this series.
September 25, 2014
I liked the first book Much better. this one was boring. to me it lacked depth. it gave limited insight to Ellie and Bryce's relationship and the crime was less that suspenseful
August 11, 2015
A great book with a great plot. Kate Watterson is a new author for me, but I will definitely be reading more of his books!
April 7, 2016
First time reading Kate Watterson and was rather impressed. Great story line, characters and the plot flowed really nice. Enjoyed her style of writing. Recommend.
December 14, 2016
Almost 4 stars.
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January 10, 2018super goo
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews