A Reluctant Saint

Josie Grey is the police chief in a West Texas border town. Artemis, population 2,500, has all the problems of any small town, and, unfortunately, a police force of only three people. Now, they have added problems. One of the mayoral candidates, Mike Striker, claims he’s on a congressional commission on voting oversight, and he’s inspecting voting machines. He also is involved in a controversial project. He’s buying up land, and has found a loophole that allows for a greyhound track in Artemis. Josie can’t prevent that, but she becomes involved when a woman raising greyhounds for Striker is found dead.

It would be so easy to have spoilers in the review of A Reluctant Saint because there are several deaths, and Josie continues to circle back to Mike Striker and his plans. Instead, just focus on Josie’s problems. She’s being harassed at home. Someone seems to have access to her house, and they’re proving it by leaving just traces that they’ve entered. She’s shorthanded at work. She has to deal with a politician who might be crooked and involved with the voting machines, but he has a lot of clout. She has one suspect she can’t touch because he’s a powerful figure in his hometown in Mexico. And, she made the mistake of going on one date with Striker’s nephew, something that could influence all of her investigations.

If you enjoy police procedurals with multiple entanglements, you can’t go wrong with Tricia Fields’ Josie Gray mysteries, including the latest one, A Reluctant Saint.

Police Chief Josie Grey has a problem. The upcoming mayoral election features a dynamic newcomer to Artemis- Mike Striker- who is proposing the construction of a dog racing track. Controversial to say the least but then a dog breeder is murdered and there's more. And someone is gaslighting her in her home. The threats she. and the town face are real and she's got to sort them out quickly. It's a well done and topical procedural, Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

A well plotted, twisty, and gripping police procedural. It's not the first I read in this series and they'are always excellent.
This one was highly entertaining and kept me hooked.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A Combustible Situation…
The seventh in the Josie Gray series of mysteries and much ado in Artemis. The mayoral election is well underway amidst much speculation and possible underhand dealings and the theft of dogs from a local breeder is causing consternation. When the dog breeder is killed, tensions rise. Josie needs to gather resources to deal with the potentially combustible situation. With a credible cast and an intriguing storyline this is another solid and enjoyable instalment in the series.

It is mid-April in southwest Texas and far hotter than usual as A Reluctant Saint: A Josie Gray Mystery by Tricia Fields begins. Weird things are happening at her isolated house. Weird Stuff like a dog leash that was her dog’s before he died suddenly goes missing from where she had it. Then a coat that belongs to Nick Santos suddenly appears on her doorstep. It isn’t the first time somebody has messed with her at home. Her home security setup, state of the art a few years ago, is dated now and is not catching the person in the act.

Weird stuff is happening in the town of Artemis as well. A recent transplant, Mike Striker, is running to be mayor. Rumor also has it that he is planning on building a greyhound dog track. If true, such a track would bring jobs and economic development, at least initially. It could also bring crime issues. Beyond the fact that it isn’t really feasible to think that such a project is remotely sustainable in the county with only around seven thousand folks living there.

The town itself has approximately 2,500 people and Police Chief Josie Gray has her hands full with routine matters. Her department, as is the county sheriff’s department, is very short staffed. Federal grants will pay for new police vehicles, for example, so they have them, but such grants don’t pay for staff. Equipment is great, but having additional police officers on staff would really help. The current situation is made worse by the fact that folks are getting very riled over the dog track issue. Then there are the rumors of voter fraud and the fact that mayoral candidate Mike Striker might have tampered with the election voting machines.

As things heat up, somebody steals two greyhounds from Jezebel Black’s home. She is involved with the project as she is now breeding greyhounds though she has no experience with doing so. The good news is that she is working and things seem to be going well as she tries to restart her life after a horrendous incident awhile back. The theft of the two dogs and vandalism of her property that happened as the dogs were taken is a setback for her.

Then the murders begin.

This is the seventh book in the series that began long ago with The Territory: A Novel and is one that hit this reader very hard. Without causing a spoiler, one of the murder victims is a long-time character from that has routinely appeared since early in the series. A murder that came out of the blue with no warning. That murder rocks everyone in the book and could change everything in the series going forward.

Whether this will be used as some sort of watershed turning point for the series from this point, or the end, I have no idea. It has been a few days since I read the book as I write this review and I am still grasping at understanding the impact and how things will go forward. Something that I think Police Chief Josie Gray does as well at the end. I freely admit that the event colored my judgment of the rest of the book as I was so devastated by what I read.

A Reluctant Saint: A Josie Gray Mystery by Tricia Fields is a complex book that feels like it easily could be the end of the series. While I am glad (I think) I read the book, I can’t say I enjoyed it due to the shocking event as noted above. Those new to the series should absolutely not read this book, without catching up first, as a lot of material from previous books is rehashed here.

While the book is currently scheduled to be released on September 6th, I was able to read it now thanks to a digital ARC from Severn House via NetGalley.


Kevin R. Tipple ©2022
(This review will run on 8/4/2022 on my blog and then a few days later at other places.)

Josie Gray is the Chief of Police in Artemis TX, a very small town in a very big state. The local state senator is running for mayor and trying to push through a greyhound racing track outside of town. No one is excited about it except him, his brother, and a young woman who begins breeding greyhounds for racing. When she is found dead in an arroyo outside of town, Josie and her team go into action to assist the Texas Rangers and the County Sheriff's offices. Two boxes of evidence are stolen from the police office. Then, one of Josie's officers is shot. There were only three officers to begin with and now there are only two and Otto is beginning to think about retirement. Are all of these events related? The best part about this series are the characters and the setting. West Texas is a character in the books. Recommended.

The unethical practices of property developers, shady politicians and their electoral shenanigans (welcome to the MAGA World), animal cruelty and murder are some of the ingredients the reader will find in this adrenaline-fueled new addition to Tricia Field's brilliant series featuring the Police Chief Josie Gray and a cast of exquisitely drawn characters. A dark and menacing tale set under the cerulean sky of the West Texas border that kept me on the edge of my seat late into the night....

A delicious treat that deserves to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever!

Many thanks to Severn House and Netgalley for this terrific ARC