This is a very cool book.

Before I get stuck into it I want to point out that 'An Intimate Deception' is quite different to CJ Birch's previous works, the New Horizons series primarily because this book is set on Earth as opposed to in space some time in a post-apocalyptic future. (I enjoyed the Horizons books but I know sci-fi/space opera isn't everyone's cup of tea, so I wanted to make the differentiation)

Our wonderful protagonist is Sheriff Elle Ashley: if you've looked at a few of the other reviews here, she gets quite a pasting from some readers for being weak or spineless, rather than an all-conquering hero. Personally, that level of humanity is one of the things I love about her. She's not a superhero who can dodge bullets, give a cutting quip and take bad guys out with out with a flying karate kick (because in between going to college, raising her brother, becoming sheriff, all that standard, boring life stuff she somehow found the time to travel to some far flung monastery to study with a martial arts master/was on an elite Ranger team or some other bullshit some books would have you swallow!)
Seeing her struggle with being a closeted, elected official in a small town; with the fact that her brother is hanging out with a criminal; with the heat; with her physical attraction to a nosy reporter! It's all part of what makes Elle real and doesn't make her any less effective at her sheriffing.

As well as showcasing this deeply complex character, 'An Intimate Deception' also contains some of CJ Birch's most elegant descriptive writing. One of my favourites is: "Elle's patience, bored from lack of use, got up and walked out." This occurs during a callout to investigate the uprooting of Mrs. Collard's prize Azaleas - some of the scenes of small town life are utterly priceless!

There is a more serious side to the crime in Turlough, however, when Elle has to investigate the first murder in fifty years. Not only does everyone have a theory about who-dunnit and why, but Elle has a history with the victim that she'd rather not reveal to to the rest of her team. As things begin to unravel and the pressure on Elle increases it all gets even more interesting and tense, particularly when Elle realises that remaining closeted is becoming more and more difficult when there are not one but two hot women eyeing her up.

Highly recommended if you like something a bit more complex and not laden with clichés.

I quite enjoyed this book but think it would have benefited by being tighter and shorter.there were too many periods where nothing much happened I didn't take to the central character or her little brother, and felt too much focus was on them.I still hadn't warmed to the brother by the end of the book, I did think things picked up towards the end of the book and there were some unexpected twists but overall this is not a book I could honestly recommend.Thanks to the publishers and netgalley for an ARC.

This has been one of the most difficult books to plod through. Everything about it is banal and boring, including and especially MC Elle Ashley. The other MC Robin Oakes is more engaging and interesting but there is hardly anything of her in the book. The best things in the book are the cover and the title.

It is set in a really, really small town (of probably 900 people). Elle is the sheriff and also the police department, which is okay because no crime really happens there. Until there is a murder. The victim is Jessie, Elle’s old boyfriend. The murder is discovered in the presence of visiting journalist Robin.

Most of the book is spent on – really, we cannot even remember what is the focus of the book. Some parts solving the murder; some parts the busyness of small town; some part being in the head of Elle’s brother EJ (quite a repulsive character); and most part nothing. At around 80% the book picks up a tad, but it is too little too late. By the time the murderer is unearthed (don’t want to give away spoilers here), we were actually rooting for the murderer to get away and live happily ever after.

Feels terrible to say this because the author has spent around a decade with this book – but so not recommended. In fact, avoidable.

I really wanted to finish this book but alas, it could not keep my attention. The mystery to solve the murder of Sheriff Elle’s exboyfriend is given to us in confusing chunks of past and present that I had difficulty following at times and wondering what each scene had significance to, if any. I made it 55% into the book and there was no real direction the story was taking other than life passing by in the small county after the murder. Elle was an interesting and lovably flawed character but Robin, the reporter, came off sleazy and disrespectful. There was interest between them but nothing had sparked at midpoint of the story other than a few modest conversations. I enjoy a slow burn romance but the snail pace lost my interest. The characters overall held my interest, just the story itself did not.