Reviewed By Amy Gruzesky
In If She Knew, Kate Wise is one year into her retirement from the FBI, where she had been a bit of a rock star and now a legend, when her friend’s daughter is murdered. The grieving parents ask Kate to look into the case and try to find out who did it.
While a bit hesitant at first, we learn that 55-year-old Kate has not taken all that well to retirement, and once she agrees to help her friends, she finds herself relishing the opportunity to get back to what she does best: solving murders.
At first told “thanks, but no thanks” by the local police, and hitting dead ends with former contacts who are not allowed to share crime details with a retired FBI agent, even one as well-known and respected as Kate, it seems as though she will either have to resign herself to not getting involved or go rogue.
However, a former supervisor at the FBI gives her the opportunity to be reinstated for the short-term, with a possible long-term reinstatement, if she works the case with a new up-and-coming agent who has been difficult with past mentors.
The two hit it off immediately and start their investigation.
The book takes on a new twist when another murder is committed not long after the funeral of her friend’s daughter, and it turns out the women lived in the same neighborhood, were both young housewives, and were part of the same circle of friends.
Coincidence, or something more? Now Kate really has something to sink her teeth into, and the reader is brought into the investigation as Kate and her partner question potential suspects, family, and friends and visit crime scenes.
Another murder takes place, and Kate herself is now in possible danger, making it even more imperative that she finds the killer before someone else, or even she, ends up being the next victim.
An easy and interesting read, it is not a high-level detective story, nor overly intricate in plot, but there are enough twists and turns to keep the reader’s interest, and the development of the characters makes you care about them and want to find out what happens and who the killer is.
This story is perfect for enjoying this book on the beach or backyard deck.
