1st Victim and 9th Girl

by Tami Hoag

I am familiar with this author's name but had never read any of her books.  When Net Galley offered these two books, I clicked that I was interested and they approved me.  So glad because I am a BIG fan now.

The 1st Victim is a short story featuring Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska.  On New Year's an unidentified body is left by the side of a highway.  Kovac & Liska suspect a serial killer.  Finding clues is difficult and they are unable to discover the girl's name because she isn't listed as a missing person.   This was a very satisfying and thrilling mystery story.

I jumped right into the 2nd book with gusto.  The 9th Girl starts out one year later on New Year's eve.

A young woman's brutalized body falls from the trunk of a car into the path of oncoming traffic. Questions as to whether she was alive or dead when she hit the icy pavement result in her macabre nickname, Zombie Doe. Unidentified and unidentifiable, she is the ninth nameless female victim of the year, and homicide detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska are charged with the task of not only finding out who Zombie Doe is, but who in her life hated her enough to destroy her. Was it personal, or could it just have been a crime of opportunity? Their greatest fear is that not only is she their ninth Jane Doe of the year, but that she may be the ninth victim of a vicious transient serial killer they have come to call Doc Holiday.

This book grabbed hold of me and didn't let go until the very end.  I love it when I find a book with depth to the story and the characters and keeps me asking questions that I want answered.  I highly recommend this series to those of you who love a good mystery.

You won't be surprised to hear that this is a series and, yet again, I did not start with the first book.  That doesn't mean I'm not going to go back and read the first 3 in the series.  Here's the list in order:

1.  Ashes to Ashes*

2.  Dust to Dust*

3.  Prior Bad Acts*

4.  The 1st Victim*

5.  The 9th Girl*

And of course, I'm going to be checking out other books by Tami Hoag.  Love it when I find a new-to-me, fabulous author.

* These are the books I now own.