Page One: Hit and Run introduces investigative reporter Robin Hamilton who has moved back from Chicago to her small home town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, after the murder of her policeman fiance. Her home is the real life town of Escanaba, situated on the northern shore of Lake Michigan.
The mystery begins when Robin's landlady witnesses a hit and run incident in the park opposite her home. The victim is a local lawyer, known for his charitable works. The police are quick to pin the accident onto Brett, a young man with a slight learning difficulty. His mother, a former babysitter for Robin, asks Robin to clear her son's name.
Robin interviews friends and family of both victim and accused and finds that Brett is being threatened. Soon she’s shown that the threats will carried out. Robin ultimately risks her own life and limb to get to the truth.
After reading a sample chapter online, I thought that I'd enjoy Page One: Hit and Run, and I did.What I particularly liked was how realistic it all felt. Robin is bereaved, she doesn't sleep well and there's no attempt by the author to force a romance with her old friend and local cop, Charlie Baker. The town as well really came to life, I could visualise it clearly (and I hadn't realised when I was reading that Escanaba was a real place or I might have googled it). The whodunnit kept me puzzled until the end and even if the who can be deduced, the why probably can't. I look forward to reading more about Robin and how her new life progresses. Fortunately a second book in the series is now available, with a third on the way.
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Karen Meek