Cover Image: The Angel Creek Girls (Detective Kay Sharp Book 3)

The Angel Creek Girls (Detective Kay Sharp Book 3)

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This is a new author for me. I was gripped from the start. It’s clear after only a few pages that something very sinister is going on. Cheryl is packed and ready to leave. She knows someone is coming for them and they need to be gone. Who? Why? Julie has grown up with her mother’s paranoia and thinks it’s all just nonsense until someone comes to the door and darkness enters their lives. The book is told from different narrative points of view as Kay and her team try to solve Cheryl’s strange murder and discover if it’s linked to the body of a man, shot to death, found on the interstate not far from the crime scene. As the investigation gets going, Kay learns of a strange local legend about first daughters being taken and discovers many cases of kidnappings and disappearances similar to Julie’s going back more than fifty years. Just what the hell is going on in the town Kay grew up in?

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Loved this one. A stunningly written, fast paced, addictive read. One that completely transported me and kept me guessing to the end. This author is quite something and This book is her best yet. Don't miss this one.

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This author is an elite angler, casting the rod with a hook of an atmospherically tense opening and reeling you in. Before you know it you are flapping about on the deck like a fish out of water and wondering if you will get back to the water or end up on a plate for dinner.

Questions, questions, questions. Who was at the door? Why were they planning to leave? What do they want with her daughter? That was only after the first chapter.

Book three in the Detective Kay Sharp series but can be read as a standalone this is another inspired crime for Kay to solve and yet again the clock is ticking. With partner Eliot assigned to another case Kay is on her own but with her particular set of skills as a behavioural analyst she’s the best chance of getting information from the two young girls found at the scene of the murder.

I really can’t fault this series, there’s even a little will they won’t they to keep romance readers happy and the author frequently comes out with stuff that puts a smile on my face even when reading about the darkest of topics. I mean her description of a cop “The wheel was turning with that cop, but the hamster was dead” is just sheer genius.

With the tightest of plots and subplots, fantastically researched police procedures and a protagonist that is a strong and intelligent woman with a real gritty determination makes this a series that’s at the top of the game.

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Detective Kay Sharp is investigating the murder of a single woman and the abduction of her teenage daughter. The youngest child is lying with her mother on the floor, thankfully still alive. She's 4 years old. The 8-year-old daughter is found under a bed, clutching a telephone for all its worth. They are both deeply in shock. One is almost comatose, the other can only say "monster".

When Kay finds three suitcases lined up in the hallway, it’s clear that the family were about to run away. But why? And who were they trying to escape?

It takes a woman with Alzheimer's and cataracts to tell Kay the horrifying truth about their small community and the evil it is hiding.

The suspense started on the very first page with a well thought-out plot and story line. It's full of action as Kay investigates and slowly secrets are revealed. Told mostly by Kay, there are alternate chapters as the readers learn what is happening with the abducted daughter and what her captor plans for her. Empathy oozes out of the pages when it comes to the young girls who witnessed such a tragedy. Overall, the characterizations are solid and credible. The ending is surprising and totally unexpected. Although 3rd in the series, this can be read as a stand alone, but I highly recommend starting at the beginning. This is a terrific crime series!

Many thanks to the author / Bookouture / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

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BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'The Angel Creek Girls' by Leslie Wolfe.

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Leslie Wolfe, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous

Publication date 19th August 2021.

This is the second book I have read by this author. This is the third book in the 'Detective Kay Sharp' series but can be read as a standalone. I have previously read 'Beneath Blackwater River' which is the second book in the series and which I also recommend.


I was originally drawn to this book by its beautiful eye catching cover and its intriguing synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that 'Fans of Lisa Regan, Robert Dugoni and Kendra Elliot will be addicted to this twist-filled page-turner.' I am a huge fan of Kendra Elliot so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I am also a huge fan of Leslie Wolfe and if this is half as good as 'Beneath Blackwater River' it is sure to be a page turning read. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of 54 chapters. The chapters are short to medium in length so possible to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is based in Mount Chester, Canada 🇨🇦.

This book is written in third person perspective with the main protagonists being Detective Kay Sharp, Detective Elliot Young, an unsub and Julie. The benefits of third person perspective especially with multiple protagonists are that it let's you see the bigger picture of what's going on and you get to know more characters more, what they are thinking and what they are doing. It feels like you get to see the whole picture and not miss out in anything.


'The Angel Creek Girls' discusses some topics that may trigger some readers or may not be suitable for others. I like to point this out ahead of time in my reviews so you can judge if this book is for you or not. In this book Leslie discusses/includes kidnapping and murder.


It is set over multiple time lines. When books show what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present I find it really helps the reader (if it is well done) understand why things are happening and what has lead to the present activities and decisions. It also shows the bigger picture.

Wow!!! Another absolutely page turning psychological thriller!!!! Extremely well written with vivid descriptions it also contains some chapters that take you back to the past so you can see what previously happened to lead to everything.

Although this book is the third book in the series it can be easily read as a standalone which is what I did. I will however be reading the first book which is called 'The Girl From Silent Lake' as I loved this one and the second one 'Beneath Blackwater River' . This book wasn't just one storyline but several cases going on together. It was very well written so that it didn't confuse readers even though there was so much going on. It kept be completely on the edge of my seat biting my nails waiting for the next twist, of which there was many. The storyline is realistic, compelling and addictive. I was completely shocked not just once but several times and would not have guessed any of it so a huge well done to Leslie as it is getting harder and harder to surprise me and there's nothing worse than working everything out before 50%. The story ended perfectly and there were no strings left hanging, everything was explained and wrapped up nicely. Another pet hate of mine is when something is mentioned in a book and then it seems to have been forgotten about. There was only a couple of niggles at the beginning. Wouldn't she have searched whole room from top to bottom rather than just walking in to get something? Also at the start the crime scene techs missed way too much. However that was just a small niggle and I still lived the book.

The fact that Leslie had done her research on police procedurals shined through and I was intrigued to learn about the statute of limitations. Another well done on doing research as again it really puts me off a book when the author hasn't done any research and so many simple mistakes are made.

I love that there is a strong female lead and the fact that Kay is not only a Detective but a forensic psychologist also is fansicnating. It gives the reader the best of both worlds with her. I loved that Kay is a string kick butt woman but also empathetic and caring and I enjoyed watching her relationships with her brother, Elliot, Doc Whitmore and others. She is very intellectual and has a great personality. I love the fact that we get to read her thought processes while she was asking herself questions and going through theories. I really enjoyed Elliot's character also and found him to be caring while professional, friendly and fun. I also found some of his sayings hilarious which I have included below. I also loved Doc Whitmore who is the pathologist who has such a compassionate and caring personality. There is excellent dynamic in the team and its interesting to find out more about each of the characters. I really cannot wait to meet them all again in what promises to be a page turning explosive series.

Leslie Wolfe congratulations on what promises to be an extremely successful series and I'd like to welcome you to my favourite author list. I would love to see this turned into a movie and I eagerly await the next book and to meet the gang again.

Overall an absolutely addictive, compelling page turner that will shock you over and over again!!

Some of my favourite quotes\sayings in this book include the following:

😂 "Buzzard bait"
😂 "Turd floater"
😂 "You could find a Whisper in a whirlwind"
😂 "The wheel was turning with that cop but the hamster was dead" and many more!!!!

Overall an absolutely addictive, compelling page turner that will shock you over and over again!!

Genres covered in this novel include Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Police Procedural, Suspense and Thriller amongst others.

I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of Lisa Regan, Carol Wyer, Robert Dugoni, Angela Marsons, Kendra Elliot and anyone looking for a book that will shock you.


352 pages.

This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle via Amazon or free on kindle unlimited which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.

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This book opens with the tragic death of Cheryl Coleman, mother of three girls. The four-year-old was found lying in her mother's blood, the eight-year-old is in shock and the sixteen-year-old is missing. Detective Kay Sharp has to get over her shock in order to locate the missing girl and to discover whoever murdered their mother. With Kay’s previous skills as a former FBI agent and behavioral analyst, she feels that she can get information out of the children once they get sufficient rest. More than that, Kay takes a very protective stance towards them.

The story shifts to a creepy, unnamed narrator who is talking to the "Mother" and is preparing to make a sacrifice. Will Julie, the 16-year-old, be the latest victim? Meanwhile, Kay’s partner Elliot Young has been assigned another case and is desperate to solve it. Could these cases possibly be connected despite how completely different they are at first glance?

This chilling story hit the ground running, continued at warp speed, and ended with a thrilling conclusion. The Angel Creek Girls is the third book in an exciting story. While mostly covering the cases that Kay has, her personal life peeks through. She is a strong protagonist, one who thinks on her feet and works with a great team no matter how difficult the case. I am eager for the next book in the series, and one of the things I have been enjoying in the strong connection between Kay and Elliot. I am excited to see where that goes.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

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Cheryl Coleman, a widow and dental hygienist, has been brutally stabbed while trying to protect her eldest daughter from being abducted by an intruder. In the fracas, 16-year-old Julie is taken though the other children are still in the house. The following morning their neighbour calls the police and Kay Sharp together with her colleague, Detective Elliot Young is sent to investigate. They discover 8-year-old Heather and 4-year-old Erin with their mother’s body. Erin is found curled up beside her mother’s corpse in a pool of blood, but she is alive. Heather, hiding under a bed, is unable to explain what happened, and Erin will only say that there was a monster in the house, so Kay knows she is going to have her work cut out to piece together what happened.

This third book in Leslie Wolfe's Detective Kay Sharp series was certainly not a disappointment! It is told from various points of view; primarily from Kay's and Elliot’s, with some chapters from Julie and her captor. Kay and Elliot make some intuitive deductions all the while judging what information is relevant or superfluous. They are skirting their mutual attraction and both are superb characters with history but aren't completely shaped by it.

I love Leslie Wolfe's writing style and found it hard to tear myself away from this book. I am really excited to read more in this series going forward. It was a pleasure to read The Angel Creek Girls, complete with its terrific, tense final showdown and I highly recommend it.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Bookouture via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

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Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this Arc.
Absolutely brilliant!!! This, third in the series, is absolutely brilliant!! I was kept on the edge of my seat throughout, literally!! Make sure you keep the lights on and don't be feint hearted because there will be thrills and chills!! I can't wait for the next one. Well worth five stars!!

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Leslie Wolfe's Kay Sharp Series keeps getting stronger and stronger with each novel... and I thought the first book was fabulous! Kay Sharp is drawn to a young girl whose mother was murdered in their home, and her oldest sister is no where to be found. The relationship Kay develops with Heather as she seeks answers, as well as hunts for Julie is incredible. This is a fantastic book!

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A widowed mother is killed protecting her teenage daughter from being taken.
An elderly neighbor sees the spirits coming to steal Julie.
And two little girls are left, in shock, waiting for the police to come help.
Kay and Elliot continue to dodge their attraction, while investigating the Cathy's violent death, desperately search for missing Julie and somehow get two little girls to recover enough to give them leads.
Leslie Wolfe never fails to deliver - I have been a huge fan for years, and have bought copies of her books for friends and family.
This fast paced thriller kept me up late, biting my nails from the suspense and gasping out lout in shock.

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From prolific author Leslie Wolfe, comes the third instalment of the Detective Kay Sharp series. Having not read the previous books, this is really a standalone book. In a tension building opening, a single mother is found dead and two of her daughters are missing. Kay Sharp is on the case but then her partner is assigned another death case to investigate and there are far too many unknowns. With rain teeming on the mountain town, a seemingly malevolent presence lingers. Notably, there is no specific references or backstory that necessitates the reading of the two earlier adventures. A most enticing read with gripping intensity and unforeseen action finale that makes for a four-star rating. With much thanks to Bookouture and the author for an uncorrected proof copy for review purposes.

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This book is the third in the series and I have not read the first two, but I thought it could easily be read as a standalone.

Kay is a detective, trying to solve the baffling case of Cheryl Coleman's death and the abduction of her daughter Julie. She is trying to tease the story out of the two younger children, who are, naturally enough, completely traumatised by what has happened at their home. So many twists and turns, my heart was in my mouth more than once.

This was a really solid book and I thoroughly enjoyed it (although some of the characters gave me the creeps - job done, author!). Kay was a thorough professional; brave, hard-working and smart, but she was also compassionate and I think it was the combination of these things which endeared me to her. The bond she has with her work partner, Elliott, was also very sweet and I thought he was a lovely fella as well.

The whole story worked, as chilling as the premise of this book was.

Looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

4.5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture.

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Number 3 in the Kay Sharp series.

I love how the plots play out in this series. The myths and legends, especially this one, are fascinating. When you add this author's fabulous story telling you end up with a fast paced page turner that keeps you reading late into the night.

Absolutely love the characters and can't wait for the next one.

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Sinister, heart-pumping suspense, in the aftermath of the murder of Cheryl Coleman, mother of three daughters, ensues as Detective Kay Sharp sleuths her way, along with Dectectve Elliot Young, to discover 'whodunnit'. Who was the perp who also kidnapped Julie, the eldest daughter? Could little Heather and Erin, the younger sisters help unravel this mystery despite the trauma and shock? Readers' hearts will be in their throats from start to finish. Just hope that you are not an eldest daughter and pray its not raining hurricane-force downpours.

~Eunice C. - Reviewer/Blogger~

August 2021

Disclaimer: This is my honest opinion based on the review copy given by the publisher.

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The Angel Creek Girls is the third instalment in the Detective Kay Sharp series set in the fictional town of Mount Chester in Northern California. Having not long taken up the role of Detective at Mount Chester Police Department, Kay Sharpe has brought her much sought after FBI expertise with her from her days as a Special Agent as well as valuable knowledge from her specific vocation: criminal profiling. Her hometown has called her back and now transferred she had been expecting, but so far not receiving, a quieter life after hoping the small town would not have so many murders to solve as the city. This time, a widow, Cheryl Coleman, has been brutally slain while trying to protect her eldest daughter from being abducted by a male intruder. The kidnapper manages to make off with 16-year-old Julie and does not seem to have been interested in the other children who still remain present in the house. It's not until early the following morning that their neighbour calls the police and Kay and colleague Detective Elliot Young are sent out to investigate. It is then they discover 8-year-old Heather and 4-year-old Erin alone in the house with their mother’s deceased body. Kay initially believes that Erin is dead too, as she is found curled up beside her mother’s corpse and in a pool of her blood, but she is alive.

So not only must they find Cheryl’s merciless killer but also locate and retrieve Julie safely, and they sure have their work cut out for them as clues they come across start to make the case ever more complicated and convoluted. This is exacerbated by Heather being unable to talk to explain what happened and young Erin maintains that a monster was the one who killed her mother. And then another body drops. This is a compelling and absorbing instalment with plenty to keep you immersed and invested in the mystery. Twists, turns and red herrings abound in this tautly plotted tale ripe with obstacles that make the police’s race against time even more difficult. They struggle against the turning weather, people in positions of power and influence and those with enough money to buy silence. I must admit, the will they won't they sexual tension between Kay and Elliot is getting tedious; it's time to either drop it or commit, but I enjoyed the rest. The plot is unusual, as is the resolution to the case setting it apart from the rest, and the conclusion ties everything up in an explosive, palpably tense and action-packed fashion, topping it all off in style. Told from Kay and Elliot’s perspectives with a few chapters from Julie and her unidentified captor, this is a compulsive, suspenseful and entertaining police procedural.

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I really love this series ! Love Detective Kay Sharp! But this book was a bit weird to me compared to the rest in the series with the whole mother nature part. There is plenty of mystery and suspense and of course Kay Sharp is in it so all that made up for the weird part of the book. I would still recommend this book and this series. Leslie Wolfe always makes sure to keep you at the edge of your seat.

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Once again, an amazing story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Driving rain, murdered mom of 3, the teenage girl missing, younger 2 siblings traumatized, why is the rest of the family not worried about the 16-year-old, old legends, a history of missing girls … How to say more without giving it away! Detective Kay Sharp continues to stand up for what is right.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for an early read, and this is my honest opinion.

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A good crime thriller that will definitely keep you guessing.
Kay is called out to a murder scene and finds a woman dead on the floor with her young daughter nestled up against her. At first they think the girl is dead as well but she is alive and simply doesn’t want to let her mum go.
On searching the house Kay finds her sister upstairs and understands the girls will need gentle treatment after what they’ve seen.
It soon becomes apparent that their older teenage sister is missing, so Kay and Elliott try their best to find her before it’s too late.
We also have chapters from the killer and they indicate why they are murdering people.
There’s a tense conclusion when Kay comes face to face with the killer which will have you on the edge of your seat.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

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The third book in the Kay Sharp series opens with a bang. A murder, a disappearing girl and a stormy night, the perfect start to a well written thriller. It's dark, eerie and draws you in from the beginning, has excellent characterisation and an interesting plot. I did figure out the killer early on but this did not detract from my overall enjoyment and I would recommend the read. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

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This was my first introduction to former profiler now Detective Kay Sharp, and it was an enjoyable one. As she and her partner, Detective Elliot Young hunt for a killer who has not only killed a widowed mother of three, but has also kidnapped one of her young daughters.

And it was a story with twists. Not to mention a community hiding a dark and disturbing underbelly. And with plenty of mystery and procedural detail, as well as likable characters I was engaged throughout; and I'll definitely be looking out for more books in this series in the future.

Would recommend.

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