One Last Kill
One Last Kill (Tracy Crosswhite #10)
By: Robert Dugoni
This follows book nine, What She Found. While it can be read as a stand alone novel, I think it would at least be best to read 9 and 10 in order because this book handles a lot of residuals from What She Found and I think some of it may lose its punch if you aren’t aware of the background.
What Tracy found in the last book was corruption in high places and leaders taking drug money. The investigative reporter looking into several cases then, including that one, went missing. Some things were left a little ‘unresolved.’
So now, in One Last Kill, Tracy is investigating the cold case of a serial killer that may have some connection to the other cases the investigative reporter was researching back then. Anita Childress, from book 9, is a returning character.
Not only is Tracy battling the normal challenges of a cold case, she’s also got some enemies in high places that don’t want her to succeed and is assigned a partner she can’t stand. Can she track down a killer without putting herself or her family in danger?
The title is significant because even though Tracy is looking into a ‘cold’ case, she runs the risk that opening the case back up may trigger the killer to kill again. The killer may have gone dormant because they died or went to jail for some other reason, but they may have been trying to send a message. With the return of publicity, it may be too enticing to send another message and make one last kill.
I actually didn’t like this one quite as much as other ones in the series. This one had more profanity in it for one thing. The last book had 20 s-words and this one jumped up to 60 for some reason.
I also don’t know if I liked the whole ending. I know some people like an ending that is a little open-ended, but I tend to prefer open and shut and full resolution. This one left Tracy with a hard decision and I partially disagree with her choice.
SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT!!
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A line at the end says, “She’d do as Mrs. Edwards had done. Tracy would swallow the truth, to protect her family.” I don’t find this believable for Tracy’s character. She’s always trusted that exposing the truth is the best thing to do and that she could handle any backfire from it.
I get that her family would be in danger because of the people involved, but I think she has enough evidence that would destroy them— plus any harm they might try to cause wouldn’t lessen the damage done by the evidence so I don’t know if they would try it. If Mr. Edwards hadn’t killed his wife by now, I don’t think he plans to.
Not to mention, swallowing the truth does more than supposedly protect her family and friends, it also puts others at risk and in harm’s way.
I think Dugoni plans to continue this series, so I guess we will see if this decision comes back to bite her or if she will finally have the courage to go after the big players and have others to support her in it.
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SPOILER OVER!!
A couple random comments:
I was happy to see that “The Gazebo Dan Built”— the Costco find— made an appearance in this book as well.
The phrases “graft and corruption” and “chewing nails” were a bit overused. The first one stuck out to me because it’s such a specific and unusual phrasing to continue using.
A lot of DNA testing is done in this book and there is talk about how long that process actually takes. So I decided to look it up because it just doesn’t seem like it would take much to do DNA testing and solve all these crimes. And unfortunately I didn’t find many definitive answers. It varies by state (because of backlog) and it depends on the type of crime and the amount of evidence to be processed. There are a lot of hoops they have to jump through in terms of cleaning and documenting to make sure nothing is tampered with or compromised. Plus extra analysis to confirm findings and make sure everything is done properly.
I enjoyed Tracy’s comeback to her captain when he told her he was her superior: “You’re my captain. You’re far from my superior.” Not super respectful of authority, but it was a good line…
Although the profanity increased a bit, I would still recommend this series. Tracy Crosswhite is a character that I always enjoy following around. She’s got grit, smarts, and a good sense of humor.
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
[Content Advisory: 1 f-words, 60 s-words, 13 b-words; rape is discussed as a crime but not described in story form]
This book releases in October 3, 2023. You can pre-order a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.
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