Review: Police Procedural With Paranormal Twist
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 28, 2013
The whimsical beginning of this gritty police procedural suspense novel sets you up for a shock when the story explodes.Detective Ruben Marquez is thrust into a grisly murder investigation that is much too close to his mother's home. The first twenty-four hours, crucial to every homicide investigation, proves frustrating to Ruben and partner Adam Campbell.What's even more frustrating than an investigation going nowhere is his mother's behavior. Although she says she knows nothing, Ruben finds himself questioning Mamacita's official statement. To make matters worse, Ruben is alarmed by the sudden change in Mamacita's physical appearance and attitude.Muller deftly weaves a suspenseful investigation around Ruben and his family, showing their closeness as well as the cracks in what had once been an impermeable familial bond. The author never makes a misstep as these two homicide detectives try to find the murderer and protect Mamacita who has been proclaimed a witness by the local newspapers.To Ruben's surprise, Tessa Reyna, the woman who steps up as the victim's only Houston relative, is someone who pushes all his buttons-and not necessarily in a way he likes. Tessa clings to her secrets until the very end just as Ruben clings to his deeply-held beliefs and stubbornly resists a the truth that is revealed.Even when the murderer is unmasked, questions remain to the very end, keeping the reader turning the pages. Can Ruben and Tessa overcome their pasts and accept the other, including their respective beliefs, in order to be together?Don't miss The Witch on Twisted Oak, a taut police procedural with a paranormal edge and a well-rounded cast of characters who are, refreshingly, Hispanic rather than the usual Anglo, adding a different dimension to this mystery set in Houston.