In Yuletide Slaying by Paty Jager, Shandra Higheagle has let herself get talked by her boyfriend’s family into having her giant mixed- breed dog pull a sleigh with presents in the Christmas parade. But when Sheba gets startled and takes off running, by the time Shandra locates her beloved pet, she finds the body of a murdered man in the sleigh. Taking both Sheba and her passenger to the emergency room, Shandra is upset to learn that the detective assigned to the case thinks of her as a suspect. What’s more, her boyfriend, Detective Ryan Greer has been forbidden from going near the case, since Shandra is involved.
But then Ryan’s case of a murdered body merges with the case of the body Sheba found. Worse, Ryan learns that his life is in danger from a case in which he went undercover with a gang a few years earlier in Chicago. He determines to stay away from his family and Shandra for their own safety, but Shandra refuses to avoid her boyfriend. This leads to even further drama as Ryan fights for the lives of the woman he loves as well as his own.
Yuletide Slaying is the seventh book in the Shandra Higheagle series, and each book has proven to be a delight. I thoroughly appreciate the strength of Shandra, who has experienced serious injury in her personal life but works to rise above it. We see her transform over the course of the series from a damaged woman to a woman who shows her internal strength in this book, refusing to allow the danger to Ryan and herself to get in the way of her life and her need to stand by her man. We also see that Shandra has changed from the previous books, where her past abuse by a man prevents her from being able to handle physical intimacy with Ryan. But in this book, Shandra has grown personally to being able to allow Ryan share her bed, and she discovers that intimacy with him is what she craved without even knowing it.
The book has an exciting plot, completing a story line from the previous book, Reservation Revenge, in which Ryan finally reveals to Shandra what has held him back from a more serious relationship, namely the gang with a price on his head. The book left me eager to learn what is next in store for Shandra and Ryan and how they use their new freedom in their relationship to investigate future cases together.
Ann M. Thompson performs the audio edition of Yuletide Slaying, giving good voices for Shandra and Ryan. However, some of her other voices start to run together, sounding like each other. Using a slow, gentle pacing, Thompson keeps the book driving by making the listener eager to find out what will happen next.
I have found each new book in this series to be more compelling than the previous, and Yuletide Slaying is no exception. It drew my attention clearly and made me excited to learn what would happen next. I look forward to listening to book nine when it comes out. I give this book five stars!
Disclaimer: I received this audiobook for free from the author for review purposes, but that had no impact on the content of my review.
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