Cold to the Bone

June 22, 2020
Single mother Nicole Cobain, the heroine of this flawed series launch from Hayes (Chloe Doe writing as Suzanne Phillips), escaped city life and a terrible relationship years earlier to become the first female sheriff of Montana’s Toole County. She’s now investigating the suspicious death of 14-year-old Beatrice Esparza, found lightly dressed and recently deceased in the snow. When Nicole looks into Beatrice’s secretive family, she learns that the girl’s well-to-do physician father was using her as a test subject for a possible cancer cure, which he’s hoping to sell to the highest pharmaceutical bidder, with Nicole’s vengeful ex brokering the deal. Hayes often introduces, then drops, figures designed to illuminate Nicole’s personality, like her romantic interest, reliable medical examiner Robin McAuley, who disappears shortly after the discovery of Beatrice’s body. Readers should be prepared for a lot of loose ends, clumsy red herrings, unconvincing characters, and a predictable climactic confrontation. Others have done a better job of exposing greed and Big Pharma. Agent: Anne Tibbets, D4EO Literary.