What She Saw by Diane Saxon

Release: September 22nd 2020
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Source: Rachel’s Random Resources
Find it at: Goodreads, Amazon UK

Why does someone want the Lawrence family dead?
The Lawrence’s were the perfect family; successful, beautiful, and happy until one night a tragic incident shattered their lives.
Detective Sergeant Jenna Morgan is the investigator to probe the suspected arson attack and death of the Lawrence family at the charred remains of their stunning home, Kimble Hall.
The case takes a sinister turn as the body count do not tally.
Suspecting that someone may have survived the inferno, DS Morgan and her team need to discover whether they have a witness, or someone far more dangerous.
Who set the fire? Who wanted this family extinguished beyond recognition?
As the case progresses, DS Morgan realises she has a calculating, cold-blooded killer on her hands, and the race is on to track them down before they kill again.

About the Author:

Diane Saxon previously wrote romantic fiction for the US market but has now turned to writing psychological crime. Find Her Alive was her first novel in this genre and introduced series character DS Jemma Morgan.

She is married to a retired policeman and lives in Shropshire. She has two gorgeous daughters, a Dalmatian, two cats, numerous rare breed chickens, and a black Labrador called Beau—a name borrowed by her hero in For Heaven’s Cakes.

What She Saw Review:

Firstly, the cover of this book is gorgeous and immediately captured my interest to read it.

The story starts off with a bang, literally, when a father starts shooting all his family members. Only one member, Poppy escapes. The author did a nice job of portraying the characters in a realistic manner. Jenna is interesting in the lead and I liked the way she went about investigating the crime. I also like Jenna and Mason’s bickering. I felt they made interesting partners when working on the various cases. The supporting characters are also very nice and I enjoyed Mrs. Crawford’s conversations with Jenna. Gordon also makes a scary villain where you don’t know how he would react.

At the same time, I really liked the author’s style of writing. She explains each step that Jenna takes and her thoughts in a clear and detailed manner. I like some of the side plots like when the team solve the drug case or investigate the case involving Lena and the dogs. It’s always interesting when there are multiple plots in a story.

However, at times I felt like the story was too lengthy, mainly because of the various plots. Some of the cases that Jenna solves are unrelated to the bigger plot. It felt disconnected to the bigger picture. I would have liked it if all the cases somehow related to Gordon’s case, as that would have made the story epic. Also, I really like Kim Stafford as the negative character, but we didn’t see much of him in the storyline.

Overall, this was a nice book to read but would have been much better had the plot been consistent.