Review: Savannah Mysteries Get Better and Better
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 23, 2012
"Hot Property," the second book in the Savannah Martin series is another great read.  I have read the first three Savannah Martin mysteries, and have downloaded the fourth book, so intrigued am I with the characters of Savannah Martin and Rafael Collier.In this work, a series of robberies are taking place during Open House presentations after all the visitors have left, and when the Realtor is still in the house.  Four masked men tie up the Realtor and clean out the house of wealthy owners.  One Realtor, Lila Vaughn, flirtatiously told the robber that she would like to be tied to a bed rather than tied up in a chair.  A few days later, she is found in her bed, dead, having been badly beaten.  Detectve Tamara Grimaldi asks Savannah Martin to come to Police Headquarters to view photos of Lila and ID her.  Savannah fears that Rafael Collier may have been one of the men involved in the robberies.  Detective Grimaldi also suspects Rafe.  A second murder takes place, and Savannah feels compelled to investigate it.  Finally, Savannah is asked to host an Open House, and she accidentally happens upon evidence that points to the murderer.Meanwhile, Savannah's relationship with Rafe has thoroughly disturbed and angered Todd, the Assistant D.A. of Sweetwater, the town in which she grew up, and whom she dates on and off.  He has a private investigator follow Rafe.  He has her brother,Dix, an attorney call her and speak to Savannah to warn her off any relationship with Rafe.  Southern prejudices prevail in many ways through the depiction of the relationship between Savannah Martin, the properly raised blonde, Southern white gal, who grew up in an antebellum mansion, and Rafael Collier, LaDonna'a colored boy, who was raised in a trailer in the Bog. She herself knows that she could never bring Rafe home to meet her mother, a very polite and proper Southern woman, who adheres to the ways of the South.  Rafe, likewise, says, I am who I am.  Her family will never accept him for who he is.  And, yet there is a mystery about the fascinating Rafael Collier that is yet to be solved.