Review & Excerpt: Cheater by Karen Rose

 

Cheater (San Diego #2) by Karen Rose

Publication Date: March 26th 2024 by Berkley

Pages: 464

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

When a murder happens in a retirement community Detective Kit McKittrick and Dr. Sam Reeves must work together to find the killer. Kit’s been avoiding Sam for the last six months when it seemed like they had a connection, thinking she had little to offer him, but this case has thrown them together again to untangle the many threads in this mystery. Kit can’t avoid Sam anymore with his personal connection to the murder victim and he’s been assigned to assist with the case as the SDPD’s resident psychologist. Kit and her partner Connor, as well as Sam have a lot to uncover.

Kit is a likeable character, and she has a wonderful support system with her adoptive parents, good people who seem to gather all those that need a helping hand. I love Sam! He’s patient with a big heart.

Cheater mixes crime procedure and the personal aspects of the main characters, their extended friends, family, and co-workers. Many of the characters appear again, building on the foundation set in the first book. Sam and Kit’s romance is slow going and one I’m rooting for. 

4 Stars

Excerpt:

Book Description:

A shocking murder leaves an affluent retirement community reeling in this riveting, high-stakes second installment of the San Diego Case Files, from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen Rose.

Death is not an unfamiliar visitor to Shady Oaks Retirement Village, which provides San Diego with premier elderly support from independent retiree housing to full-time hospice care. But when a resident’s body is found brutally stabbed and his apartment ransacked, it’s clear there’s someone deadly in their community. Detective Katherine “Kit” McKittrick quickly discovers that Shady Oaks is full of skeleton-riddled closets, and most tenants prefer to keep their doors firmly closed to the SDPD.

A longtime volunteer at the retirement facility, Dr. Sam Reeves honors his late grandfather’s memory by playing the piano for the residents regularly. So it shouldn’t be such a surprise when Kit crosses paths with him during her investigation, after she’d avoided the criminal psychologist—and the emotions he evokes—for the last six months.

Sam’s rapport within the retirement village proves vital to the case, and the pair find themselves working together once again—much to Kit’s dismay. But she is determined to apprehend the shadow of death lurking around Shady Oaks...and equally determined to ignore the feelings she’s developing for a certain psychologist.

About the Author

Karen Rose is the award-winning, #1 international bestselling author of more than 25 novels, including the bestselling Baltimore and Cincinnati series. She has been translated into twenty-three languages, and her books have placed on the New York Times, the Sunday Times (UK), and Germany's der Spiegel bestseller lists.