Book Review: Ashes to Ashes

After finishing Tami Hoag's Prior Bad Acts, I decided to re-read Ashes to Ashes since I'm at home on Spring Break and the book was just sitting there on a shelf waiting for me. After all, the main characters from Prior Bad Acts first showed up in Ashes to Ashes and, luckily for me, I remembered ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT THE BOOK. Seriously. Nothing. I only knew the Prior Bad Acts characters were in Ashes to Ashes because Prior Bad Acts told me so. It's a little disturbing, but then again, I own Ashes to Ashes in hardback and it came out in 1999. So that was about eight years ago, and I think it's understandable if I've forgotten.

Ashes to Ashes is set in Minneapolis, and the plot revolves around a serial killer that is killing women and then setting their bodies on fire to be found in public places. The press has labeled the killer "The Cremator." Lovely.

Kate Conlin is a former FBI agent that left the Bureau five years before to move back to her hometown of Minneapolis to become a victim/witness advocate. The first two bodies that are found burned were prostitutes, but when a third body believed to be the daughter of a local billionaire is found, everyone stands up and pays attention. Kate is called in to work with a young woman who supposedly saw The Cremator dump and light up the third body.

John Quinn is the most famous FBI criminal profiler around, and because of the billionaire's influence, he's called in to participate on this case. And as fate would have it, he and Kate have a history together from her time with the FBI. A sexy history. Do do dooooo.

I liked this book, just like I like all Tami Hoag books. She's a great mystery writer, keeping me interested while still holding back a lot. Seriously, I have read this book before and I STILL didn't know who the killer was. That's a good mystery. Either that or I have early onset Alzheimers.

I would like to read the "sequel" (not really a sequel, just her next book with the same characters) Dust to Dust, but even though I'm sure I've read it before (I remember a little more about this one) and I'm also rather sure that I own it, I can't find it anywhere. It's disappeared, much like a lot of my books do. I suspect that a certain sister of mine "borrows" books and loses them/throws them away/loans them without permission/steals them. But hey, innocent until proved guilty, right?