LOW COUNTRY BLOOD

An African-American investigative
journalist hunts her cousin’s killer and then becomes a target herself in this
Southern thriller.

Beatrice “Beazy” Middleton, freshly
laid off from her reporting job in Los Angeles, drives her silver Beemer
cross-country to visit her family in Savannah, Georgia. Halfway there, her
brother, Luther, a sheriff in rural Georgia, calls to say their 15-year-old
cousin, Jayden, was murdered. Jayden, a musical prodigy, played fiddle and
organ, and he “had the voice of a young Stevie Wonder.” Emad Al Alequi, whose
father, Farouk, heads an Afghan heroin ring, recognized Jayden’s talent and was
working as his manager. Marcus “Muhammed” Trotter, hired by Farouk to be his
son’s handler, knew if Emad got overly involved with Jayden, it would interfere
with the family’s drug trade. If Trotter couldn’t deter Emad, he could stop
Jayden—with a “9mm hollow point, Teflon-tipped” bullet. It turns out Trotter’s
history of being a very bad dude stretches back to high school when he
assaulted Beatrice, who was rescued by Luther’s best friend, Rio Deakins.
Trotter relishes the chance to hurt Beatrice again while Rio, now a “goddamned
gorgeous” motorcycle-riding college professor, comes back into her life and may
be the perfect man for her—despite his fiancee. Hinkin’s (Deadly Focus,
2018) second Vega and Middleton
Mystery, which, like the first book in the series, stars only one of the
titular characters and reads like a thriller, successfully blends multiple
ingredients: fast pacing, romance, danger, humor, and a crazy wild ending. Nice
details pepper the story: For example, a character in a coffee shop insists “on
stabilizing the table with a couple of sugar packets,” and the female redheaded
police detective has skin “the color of cream with cinnamon sprinkles.” Other
passages border on the poetic, such as Beatrice’s thoughts as her car races
like a swift, sleek panther home to Georgia: “Licking my lips, I sought the
briny tang of the Pacific, but it was gone. Other flavors were on the rise. I
took a long swig of water. I was good. A little anxious, but good.”

A spirited reporter dealing with her
past and helping police solve a murder in the family makes this novel hard to
put down.