4.5 stars.

River of Secrets by Roger Johns is a compelling police procedural that features a topical storyline. This second installment in the Wallace Hartman Mysteries series can be read as a standalone but I highly recommend the entire series.

Detective Wallace Hartman's newest case is a perplexing investigation into the murder of state senator Herbert Marioneaux. With Herbert's long and varied history of reinventing himself, Hartman realizes the list of suspects and uncovering a motive will be daunting. A DNA match quickly points to disgraced lawyer turned activist Eddie Pitkin as the suspected killer, but Wallace's childhood friend (and Pitkin's half-brother) Craig Stephens pleads with her to check out a plausible alibi. With racial tensions on the rise, her boss Chief of Detectives Jason Burley and Police Chief Jack Shannon want the investigation closed sooner rather than later, but Wallace refuses to be intimidated as she continues searching for the truth.

As she digs into Marioneaux's past, Wallace uncovers conflicting information about the pastor turned politician. A one-time segregationist, Herbert has renounced his racist past but the minister at his church raises doubts about the sincerity of the state senator's transformation. Wallace's discussion with Marioneaux's estranged son Glenn also suggests the state senator might have a dark side.

Eddie Pitkin is no choirboy due to his own brush with the law, and his efforts to force slave owners' descendants to pay reparations is not exactly welcome by everyone. Wallace stumbles across a witness that could provide Eddie will an alibi, but will he show up at the police station to give his statement?

Hartman soon becomes aware someone in the department is leaking information so she bounces ideas off longtime family friend and her mother's current suitor, lawyer Mason McCone. Unsure of which co-workers she can trust, Wallace instead relies on small town Sheriff Melissa Voorhees to process evidence and track down information. After she is targeted by white supremacists Wallace and her boyfriend Mason Cunningham attemp to maintain a low profile while she quietly continues her investigation under the radar.

With a fantastic lead protagonist and a socially relevant plot, River of Secrets is a fast-paced and engrossing mystery. Wallace is an ace detective whose finally honed instincts are crucial to unraveling the truth about who murdered Marioneaux and why. Roger Johns does an outstanding job obscuring the perpetrator's identity and motive for the murder cleverly under wraps until the novel's twist-filled conclusion. A riveting addition to the Wallace Hartman Mysteries
series that old and new fans do not want to miss. ( )

I have not read the first book in this series but this book can be read as a stand alone. Detective Wallace Hartman is a good lead character. She does have an engaging persona. Plus, I thought she was intelligent. She showed this by solving the case. So, why you might ask did I not love this book. This is because, I could not find that connection with the rest of the characters and thus the story was not that interesting to me. When you don't care about most of the characters in a book than the storyline becomes dull.

Yet, the moments where I was engaged with the story was good. A fast read for sure. It has a nice steady pacing despite the fact that I was not into the characters. Because I did like Wallace, I would go back and read book one. If you are looking for something new to read, you may want to check out this book. ( )