Set in Canada, Undertow by R.M. Greenaway is an intriguing police procedural. This latest release is the second installment in the B.C. Blues series and while it can be read as a standalone, I strongly recommend reading the series in order to fully understand the characters' backstories.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constables Cal Dion and Dave Leith have recently been transferred to North Vancouver and are once again working together. Leith is struggling with living apart from his wife and daughter and he is also trying to assimilate to his transition to a life in a big city. Dion is still making progress with his recovery from a traumatic brain injury but he is frustrated by his memory lapses and lack of focus. He is also depressed as he tries to settle back into his old life but does not fit comfortably in the world he once inhabited.

Leith and Dion are both trying to solve the heartbreaking murders of the Liu family when they are called to the scene of the puzzling murder of wealthy businessman Oscar Roth. The investigations into the murders are not really turning up any leads when Dion makes a sudden decision that leads to some very enlightening information.

Dave is much older than Cal and he is a competent constable who relies on old fashioned detective work during the investigation. Despite Cal's cognitive problems, he is quite intuitive but these flashes of brilliance sometime slip away before he can fully comprehend what he has just discovered. The two men do not seem to really like each other but they do set aside their differences during the investigations.

Cal has plenty of tricks to make it appear that he is fit for duty. But maintaining the facade that he is back to normal is exhausting and he doubts his competence. His inability to fit back into his old life leads him to make a somewhat impetuous decision about his career. He then becomes unexpectedly involved with some of the key witnesses in the investigations but can he really turn off the instincts that have become second nature to him over the years? When he unexpectedly stumbles onto a witness that could help solve the Liu murders, he is quick to call Dave but has Cal inadvertently tainted the investigation?

Despite the sometimes confusing storyline involving Cal Dion's past, Undertow is a riveting murder mystery. The investigations are fairly straight forward even though it takes a while for the pieces to begin to fall into place. Dion and Leith are both likable protagonists and in spite of their very different styles when it comes to detective work, they are a formidable investigative team. R.M. Greenaway has an enjoyable writing style but the slow parceling of information about Dion's past is sometimes a little frustrating. This newest addition to the B.C. Blues series comes to a very clever conclusion that wraps up all of the loose ends with the current investigations. However, readers will have wait for further installments to (hopefully) learn more about Cal Dion and his tangled past. ( )

his was the second book by this author and my second book to read by this author. This one was definitely better than the first book.

The book starts out pretty crazy with a high speed chase wherein a man is following another man. Then he decides forget it. However, the man being chased says oh no, your not getting away with this and proceeds to chase his chaser. It just gets hairier after that. There are several people killed in this book and it's really pretty hard to figure out why and who is doing all this killing. Which is a good thing.

There are times when the author leads you to believe that things are going to happen and nothing does. That's a good thing as well.

When everything comes to light at the end, the light bulb goes off and you can see how the hints were there. However, they were so subtle that there was no way to really figure it out. I liked that.

There are some crazies in this book. I liked that too. A great read which I'm glad I got to read and review.

Thanks to Dundurn for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Book #2, in the BC Blues Crime series

One year has passed since the first story ended. In this installment we have Constables Leith and Dion back together working in North Vancouver. It doesn’t take time before they get deeply involved in a pair of hugely intricate murder cases: one tragic cold case and the other the double murder of Cheryl Liu and her baby daughter. Everything soon morphs in one incredible tangle where nothing is sure and no one is really telling the truth. We need to decipher all this as we go along and follow Leith and Dion tackling the 2 investigations.

As in her previous novel “Cold Girl”, Mr. Greenaway penned another multilayered mystery that dilly-dallies a lot and is way longer than necessary. I would say it is one of those books you love or hate for that reason. The author pays great attention to small details slowing every down to a crawl. Leaving aside action which is so scattered you rarely see some I needed to change tack, put my mind to it in order to keep up with this puzzle. As it slowly revealed itself piece by piece the mystery started to grow on me and I didn’t mind pushing on.

This novel is definitely a character driven mystery with many players to keep track of some of which may show up in one or the other investigation or not at all….that was also a challenge. The style is a little different and is quite unique and may have all the attributes to make it fascinating but as in the first book I found it to be a hard book to get into. The style may not have totally appealed to my taste but this does not mean “Undertow” is not a well-written and captivating mystery, it is in many ways. It simply wasn’t meant for me.

Thank you Dundurn and NetGalleys for this ARC ( )

Great sequel to "Cold Girl".

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1832238980 ( )