Texas Mystery - Texas Memories

That's right!!! I picked up the next book by Kathryn Casey and I am continuing to get familiar with Lieutenant Sarah Armstrong of the Texas Rangers. I am also learned a little more about what I suspect is the author's style.

The title of the book (in this case Blood Lines) plays an integral part of the story. It is introduced in a manner that seems unrelated to the mystery itself but one can see how it plays out later in the cases Sarah is involved in. Blood lines is introduced in relation to Maggie's horse. (Just a reminder, Maggie is Sarah's daughter.) The horse is early in it's pregnancy and has become sick. The doctor / vet suspects a bacterial infection in the blood. This infection not only threatens Maggie's horse but the baby the horse is carrying. Some of the possible consequences of the infection include crippling the horse and its baby through possible loss of sight and even death. It is interesting how this concept also applies to the cases Sarah will work on in this book.

After the last book in which her daughter and her mother were taken and almost murdered by the serial killer, Sarah took time off to reevaluate and spend time with her family. It has been about a year!!! Her time at work has been limited to a few hours at home reviewing some case files.

At the urging of her boss (and with some support from her mother and daughter) she has decided to return to work. She is immediately drawn into two separate cases. The first involved what appeared to be a suicide of a well off oil company business executive. But the sister of the victim insists that this was in no way a suicide. The second case involves a teen music idol who is being stalked and threatened by an unknown assailant. This has in effect crippled / disrupted her during her life - both on stage and off stage.

While Sarah has some suspects early on in her investigation, it requires more investigation to actually pin down the cases with proof. The process she takes in doing this is one of the other things that makes this mystery interesting to read.

Of course there is another thing that makes this interesting to me - the memories it stirs up. Built in the story, there are descriptions of pre-rodeo and rodeo events that bring back memories. Also there are descriptions of places (Rice University, the Medical Center, the underground downtown, and roadways to name a few) that also bring back memories.

These are just some of the elements in her style that I've come to expect and realize after reading the second book in this series. Have you seen any others? Let me know. I can't wait to check out book number three when it comes out in the fall.