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Suspect
Detective Royce Fleming has dealt with the worst of the worst in his small Utah town. But even after years of dealing with criminals, he's shaken when a battered young woman enters his office. The victim of ruthless domestic abuse, Ellerie Pearson finally has the courage to share her painful secret history with the kind officer. For Royce, this information is just another piece in the puzzle he's working to solve—because unbeknownst to Ellerie, her husband's body has just been found. And she's the prime suspect in his murder. As he delves into the mystery surrounding Darien Pearson's death, Royce is inundated with suspects. Darien's calculated cruelty left him with no shortage of enemies, and Ellerie's involvement seems less likely by the day. But when his own past makes an unwelcome return, Royce finds himself torn between duty and the possibility that he may lose everything.
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2018
33 people are currently reading
161 people want to read
About the author
Clair M. Poulson
55 books296 followersClair M. Poulson was born and raised in Duchesne, Utah. His father was a rancher and farmer, his mother a librarian. Clair has always been an avid reader, having found his love for books as a very young boy.
He has served for forty years in the criminal justice system. Twenty years were spent in law enforcement, ending his police career with eight years as the Duchesne County Sheriff. For the past twenty years Clair has worked as a justice court judge for Duchesne County. Clair is also a veteran of the US Army where he was a military policeman. He has served on various boards and councils during his professional career, including the Justice Court Board of Judges, Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Utah Judicial Council, Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, an FBI advisory board and others.
In addition to his criminal justice work, Clair has farmed and ranched all of his life. He has raised many kinds of animals, but his greatest interest is horses.
Clair has served in many capacities in the LDS church, including fulltime missionary (California Mission) bishop, counselor to bishop, young men president, high councilor, stake mission president, scoutmaster, High Priest group leader, etc. He currently serves as a Sunday School teacher.
Clair is married to Ruth, and together, they have five children, all of whom are married: Alan (Vicena) Poulson, Kelly Ann (Wade) Hatch, Amanda (Ben) Semadeni, Wade (Brooke) Poulson, and Mary (Tyler) Hicken. Between them they have twenty-three children. Clair and Ruth met while both were students at Snow College and were married in the Manti temple.
Clair has always loved telling his children, and later his grandchildren, make-up stories. His vast experience in life and his love of literature has always contributed to both his telling stories to children and his writing of adventure and suspense novels.
He has served for forty years in the criminal justice system. Twenty years were spent in law enforcement, ending his police career with eight years as the Duchesne County Sheriff. For the past twenty years Clair has worked as a justice court judge for Duchesne County. Clair is also a veteran of the US Army where he was a military policeman. He has served on various boards and councils during his professional career, including the Justice Court Board of Judges, Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, Utah Judicial Council, Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, an FBI advisory board and others.
In addition to his criminal justice work, Clair has farmed and ranched all of his life. He has raised many kinds of animals, but his greatest interest is horses.
Clair has served in many capacities in the LDS church, including fulltime missionary (California Mission) bishop, counselor to bishop, young men president, high councilor, stake mission president, scoutmaster, High Priest group leader, etc. He currently serves as a Sunday School teacher.
Clair is married to Ruth, and together, they have five children, all of whom are married: Alan (Vicena) Poulson, Kelly Ann (Wade) Hatch, Amanda (Ben) Semadeni, Wade (Brooke) Poulson, and Mary (Tyler) Hicken. Between them they have twenty-three children. Clair and Ruth met while both were students at Snow College and were married in the Manti temple.
Clair has always loved telling his children, and later his grandchildren, make-up stories. His vast experience in life and his love of literature has always contributed to both his telling stories to children and his writing of adventure and suspense novels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
August 24, 2020
If I have to read about a man that has every beautiful woman falling at his feet in adoration for no apparent reason it will be too soon.
This type of writing serves an certain audience that really enjoys this kind of book. It’s clean, and readers get the satisfaction of a happy ending where somebody is going to get married in the temple. I think there is a way to write a good clean book with a more interesting plot line and realistic characters.
I had so many problems with this book!
-the unrealistic and unprofessional manner of a detective sharing personal aspects of his life with suspects of a crime
-he carelessly leaves his son with women HE BARELY knows throughout the entire book while his psychopath exwife stops at nothing to try to kidnap him. What kind of idiot just leaves his only kid with strangers!? Dude is supposed to be a detective! Then the exwife is ACTUALLY considered as a possible option to marry after she blames other people for her own actions.
-all of the women in this book are victims. With attractive smiles and misty eyes.
-the style of dialogue was pretty much the same for every single character. No variety. It was also written in a way that people don’t actually talk...ie... “So you see,”
-main character narrates the obvious.
-poor writing= author designs characters that are absolutely bat shit crazy unrealistic or on the other end of the spectrum, overly polite. With karate skills.
-assumptions that the reader will understand Mormon culture
-I swear if there had been one more woman randomly bringing over delicious baked goods to our apparently hunky detective’s house unexpectedly with the intent to get in his good favor I would have thrown this book out of the window.
I would have abandoned it if it wasn’t a book club book 🤷🏼♀️
This type of writing serves an certain audience that really enjoys this kind of book. It’s clean, and readers get the satisfaction of a happy ending where somebody is going to get married in the temple. I think there is a way to write a good clean book with a more interesting plot line and realistic characters.
I had so many problems with this book!
-the unrealistic and unprofessional manner of a detective sharing personal aspects of his life with suspects of a crime
-he carelessly leaves his son with women HE BARELY knows throughout the entire book while his psychopath exwife stops at nothing to try to kidnap him. What kind of idiot just leaves his only kid with strangers!? Dude is supposed to be a detective! Then the exwife is ACTUALLY considered as a possible option to marry after she blames other people for her own actions.
-all of the women in this book are victims. With attractive smiles and misty eyes.
-the style of dialogue was pretty much the same for every single character. No variety. It was also written in a way that people don’t actually talk...ie... “So you see,”
-main character narrates the obvious.
-poor writing= author designs characters that are absolutely bat shit crazy unrealistic or on the other end of the spectrum, overly polite. With karate skills.
-assumptions that the reader will understand Mormon culture
-I swear if there had been one more woman randomly bringing over delicious baked goods to our apparently hunky detective’s house unexpectedly with the intent to get in his good favor I would have thrown this book out of the window.
I would have abandoned it if it wasn’t a book club book 🤷🏼♀️
July 30, 2019
Honestly Not impressed. For someone who seems to have written a bunch of books I expected a more Intricate storyline. I also don’t appreciate the cultural religious assumptions that were made. I guess if you need something to read to escape during an awful family reunion this would do..
April 24, 2018
The plot dealing with crime was interesting. I didn’t think the romance part was very believable.
June 15, 2018
This book was interesting. I wish the ending could have been different.
April 2, 2018
While the story was interesting (small town detective seeks to solve the murder of a domestic violence victim's husband), I was disappointed by the detective. For someone obviously good at solving crimes, he comes across as rather wishy-washy when it comes to the women who want to be part of his life.
August 10, 2018
The plots of these books are fun, but the dialogue is just SO cheesy. They are enjoyable though, and will keep you guessing.
October 6, 2024
2.5 stars rounded up. Ellerie has an abusive husband named Darien. Ellerie is frightened and traumatized. One night he doesn’t come home and his body is later found. Her husband was not well liked and there are many suspects.
Police detective Royce begins to investigate and gets to know Ellerie and becomes acquainted with Darien’s associates as he begins to unravel the mystery.
There is a side story with a custody battle involving Royce’s young son that I found interesting.
The storyline was good. I just thought the writing was a bit cheesy and repetitive.
Police detective Royce begins to investigate and gets to know Ellerie and becomes acquainted with Darien’s associates as he begins to unravel the mystery.
There is a side story with a custody battle involving Royce’s young son that I found interesting.
The storyline was good. I just thought the writing was a bit cheesy and repetitive.
August 26, 2025
I'm pretty sure I've read other books by this author that didn't give me a conniption, so I don't know what happened here...
The plot left a lot to be desired. There were basically two main plots, and one of them was a complete tool and could've been deleted. The other was just dragged out wayyy too long and didn't feel like a real focus, which was absurd, since it was the murder that the whole book was supposed to be about.
The characters made me want to cry, and not in a good way. I didn't buy into the romance at all, especially since every single female character was madly in love with the MC and ready to drop everything to marry him at a moment's notice.
The first person narration was probably my least favorite part of the book. Despite the POV, the reader was very removed from the action. EVERYTHING was filtered and explained by the narrator. I felt like 80 or 90% of the book was written in summary instead of scene.
It was a clean read (in content) and that's why I finished, but in my opinion, very poorly written. I wouldn't recommend it, or read it again.
The plot left a lot to be desired. There were basically two main plots, and one of them was a complete tool and could've been deleted. The other was just dragged out wayyy too long and didn't feel like a real focus, which was absurd, since it was the murder that the whole book was supposed to be about.
The characters made me want to cry, and not in a good way. I didn't buy into the romance at all, especially since every single female character was madly in love with the MC and ready to drop everything to marry him at a moment's notice.
The first person narration was probably my least favorite part of the book. Despite the POV, the reader was very removed from the action. EVERYTHING was filtered and explained by the narrator. I felt like 80 or 90% of the book was written in summary instead of scene.
It was a clean read (in content) and that's why I finished, but in my opinion, very poorly written. I wouldn't recommend it, or read it again.
April 15, 2018
This was a intense fast read! I loved that there was not only a murder mystery going on but another struggle for the main character, detective Royce Fleming. His wife who left him and his month of baby 6 years ago is back and wants her son back.
Amidst, trying to solve a murder Royce is also trying to keep his son safe from being kidnapped from his biological mother he’s never met.
Quite the read!
Amidst, trying to solve a murder Royce is also trying to keep his son safe from being kidnapped from his biological mother he’s never met.
Quite the read!
March 28, 2018
I always like a Poulson mystery and this one wove and twisted in a perfect fashion. The personal life of Royce was a bit distracting. He had human flaws, but the romantic thread lacked depth and was a distraction. All that said, I will read more from Clair as his books always capture you and are the perfect mystery.
September 17, 2018
I haven’t read one of his books in a while. I didn’t have high hopes for this book. I did end up really liking it. It wasn’t a cut and dry mystery. I really was stumped at whodunnit. ;) BUT, I wasn’t thrilled with the VERY abrupt ending. It was like singing the ABC’s and when you get to P, you jump right to Z. I didn’t love that. But it was a good mystery.
May 15, 2018
There were a lot of things I really liked about this book but the whole multiple relationship saga got to be a little too much. I did, however, get caught up in the story and enjoyed the read overall.
May 19, 2018
I enjoyed a lot things about this book, mainly how the plot line of the murder investigation was well written. The romance/relationship aspects of the story, however, didn't seem believable and kind of got annoying after a while. And then the story ended pretty abruptly which was a let down.
May 20, 2018
I really enjoyed this story. It had good character building as well as mystery. I did not have it figured out before it was solved. The romance part is slow and develops along the way with 3 perfectly good choices. (lucky guy) I was satisfied in the end with the turn of events.
July 17, 2018
I really liked the book because the characters and their relationships pulled me into it and I was excited to keep reading it. The who done it came by surprise as I guess is sometimes true in real cases. So I was disappointed in my detective skills again. That was the only bummer.
December 26, 2019
Pretty good mystery despite the cheesy dialogue. The way the main guy handled things at the end with the ladies who had crushes on him seemed a little immature. The relationship he did end up with seemed rushed, especially with the issues they both had in their past.
April 22, 2020
Clean book. No swearing or sex. I did enjoy the book. The writing was simple. Too many story lines going on. I didn’t like who the detective chose to finally have a relationship
With. I was hoping for one of the other women.
With. I was hoping for one of the other women.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2018
This was a good book. I didn’t like as well as I liked other books by Clair Poulson. I did like the twist at the end.
March 28, 2018
This was a gripping, gritty, mystery/suspense novel. The dual storyline made it doubly interesting.
May 5, 2018
Great thriller
Well written with twists and turns that leave you guessing until the end. Characters were believable and well developed. Worth the read.
Well written with twists and turns that leave you guessing until the end. Characters were believable and well developed. Worth the read.
May 28, 2018
3+ stars
July 16, 2018
3.5 stars!
August 22, 2018
Wasn't my favorite
August 30, 2018
The mystery was pretty well done, but the romance was all over the place. Not one I will read again.
July 31, 2019
Ehh. The mystery was good but fell flat. Also the romance was just lame. I didn’t care for it when it took a turn for that. Kind of lame
October 31, 2019
This book was suspencful from the prologue to the end.
December 30, 2019
Fiction- murder mystery- LDS author
January 16, 2020
Not his best book.
March 9, 2021
Complex plot, many evil characters, and unpredicted twists.
Hated that ending.
Hated that ending.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews