Book Description:

2011. Redemption House is a godly retreat for the Brothers and Sister rescued from life on the streets. But when sudden fortune comes to Sister Grace, all peace vanishes—and so does Sister Grace.
2024. Family is an issue for Rosanna Quillan, still nursing the trauma of her mother’s suicide. At sixteen, she left home, to escape the misery, and that’s why she feels compel to pursue the search for a girl who did the same, sixteen years before. What became of Lianne, the girl that everyone liked, but nobody missed?
Rosanna’s quest leads to suspicion, deception and murder. Because not everyone wants Lianne’s mystery solved.

My Review:

This, the third in the Cold Case series, provides yet another riveting complex case for Rosanna Quillan. As usual, Thorne Moore leads us in one direction so that it seems inevitable that a crime will be solved in a certain way – and then, ultimately, take us unawares.

In the past I have said that whichever genre this author writes in, there is one thing any reader can be certain of when holding one of her books in their hands. That they will have a well written “absorbing story, with an innovative plot, meticulous settings that instantly give a sense of place, minor characters they will often either love or hate, and a protagonist with whom they will empathise.”

And This Cold Night is no exception. I enjoyed reading and following Rosanna Quillin’s investigations into Lianne Michaels’s mysterious disappearance, while, at the same time, she struggles with her own past. I’m just glad she has the reliable and loving Gethin by her side. (Giving no spoilers here to prospective readers – but hopefully just enough temptation, because this is a story that anyone who loves crime fiction, threaded throughout with the everyday life of the protagonist, won’t want to miss!)

I’m not normally a reader of crime fiction per se, but this series isn’t only the solving of crime – well I don’t think so, anyway. We get to know Rosanna: the historical background intricacies of her career, her personal life, her weaknesses and strengths, her relationships, past and present. Even Rosanna, when trying to understand what she’s doing, says herself that, “she’s now not sure how to describe her career, except that it involved detection…“

I was gripped by this series from the start. The first book – Best Served Cold – started Rosanna Quillin’s journey as a detective. I reviewed that book here.

The second of this series, Cold In The Earth, reviewed here, revealed even more of Rosanna’s past and her own doubts, failings, and sucesses that have lead her to this point in her life.

So, I was extremely pleased to read that this third book, This Cold Night had been published.

And, now I’ve read it, I’m equally pleased to be able to recommend it. No reader who, not only enjoys crime fiction, but likes a book that brings characters to life, and a puzzle to be solved, will be disappointed

I will only add one thing – although they are stand alone books,to get the most out of the Cold Case Book series, I would suggest to anyone that they read these books in the order they were published.