Threads Of Suspicion By Dee Henderson

Threads of Suspicion
by Dee Henderson
Publisher: Bethany House
ISBN:

If you've read my reviews before of any Dee Henderson's books, you know I'm an avid fan. Whenever I have the opportunity to do a review of her books, I definitely jump on it. This time was no exception! Thanks to Bethany House, I was able to read the next installment of her Evie Blackwell Cold Case series.

Summary:

Evie Blackwell's reputation as a top investigator for the Illinois State Police has landed her an appointment to the governor's Missing Persons Task Force. With so much public fanfare surrounding the launch of this elite investigative team, the political stakes are high, and the team will have to produce results--and quickly.

Evie and her new partner, David Marshal, are assigned to a pair of unrelated cases in suburban Chicago, and while both involve persons now missing for several years, the cases couldn't be more different. As Evie opens old wounds in a close-knit neighborhood over the disappearance of a college student, David searches for a private investigator whose last case involved a high-powered client.

With a deep conviction that "justice for all" truly matters, Evie and David are unrelenting in their search for the truth. But the questions that lie just beneath the surface in Evie's personal life are also begging for answers.

My Review:

Do you ever think, "If I could have the mind of so and so, I'd be able to _______!"? That's how it was for me reading Threads of Suspicion. The reader is able to watch as Evie takes on the case of a missing college student. She's teamed up with David Marshal who's also trying to solve a missing person case in the same area. His approach to working through a case and Evie's is different, but it also helps both of them to work through the crimes. I'd say that's the part that I enjoyed the most throughout the story.

There was also the side stories of the relationships they have with their boyfriend and girlfriend. Evie is trying to work through her thoughts and emotions about potentially being married to Rob. David has been dating and engaged to a famous pop star for years, but after he became a Christian, Maggie struggled with his new found faith.

I found some interesting overlapping of cases and relationships in the story. Seems that six degrees of separation can happen even in crimes. Henderson keeps the reader on the edge of their seat as she takes them from one possible answer to another as Evie and David try solving their mysteries! I'm already looking forward to the next installment!

About the Author:

Dee Henderson is the author of numerous novels, including Taken, Undetected, Unspoken, Full Disclosure, and the acclaimed O'Malley and Uncommon Heroes series. Her books have won or been nominated for several prestigious industry awards, such as the RITA Award, the Christy Award, and the ECPA Gold Medallion. Dee is a lifelong resident of Illinois. Learn more at www.deehenderson.com.

Summer Fun Giveaway Event With The Rope Co.

Last year I had the pleasure of working with The Rope Co. on a review and giveaway of their doormat. It still graces my front door. I can't wait until we have a patio and I can add one there, too. I've already seen some of the ones they're working on for Christmas, and this gal is planning ahead!

This year I've partnered with them once again! With it being the month of July, our month of Independence, and working with this Made in the USA company & The Rope Co. makes my heart happy how could I choose any other? And if you haven't checked out their Instagram feed, you're missing out on some great photos! I'll be doing a review soon on their beautiful bins.

Aren't those wonderful? The bin I'll be receiving is similar to the top one in color. The only thing I have to do is figure out where I'm going to put it because I have a LOT of ideas where I'd like to see it. I'll probably end up getting a couple more!

Now you have the chance to win The Rope Co. bin, too!

School is out, the days are long, the sun is hot, and the giveaways are a plenty! Come join us for some summer fun . Anderson's Angels, This Mamas Life, The More The Merrier and Woven by Words, are very excited to bring you the Summer Fun Giveaway Event! We've teamed up with over 15 other wonderful bloggers, to bring you another great giveaway event! Each blog has gathered a prize package worth $25 or more so be sure to visit each blog and enter!

Hosts & participating hop bloggers of the Summer Fun Event are not responsible for sponsors or self-sponsoring bloggers that do not fulfill prize obligations. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be Prepared For Bad Weather

One of the things I looked forward to when I moved to the East Coast was no more threats of tornadoes. Well, I learned pretty quickly that Maryland has tornadoes just like Minnesota! In Minnesota one of my first purchases was a Midland weather radio. Now that we're full on into tornado season, I reached out to Midland to see if I could do a review of their WR120. Thank my lucky stars they agreed!

I left mine in Minnesota honestly thinking I wouldn't need it here. I mean, if there's a hurricane, everyone's going to know about it, and I'm just going to drive to my mom's with plenty of time to spare. Finding out there were tornado warnings

When we lived in Washington, the girls had to put together a bad weather kit to bring to preschool and elementary school. It was in case an earthquake happened and they were stuck at the school for an extended period of time. I was shocked they didn't do the same in Minnesota for possible tornadoes.

I took this in the dark so you could see how bright the notification is.

So, I uproot the family and head to VA/MD and find out, SURPRISE! they have tornadoes, hurricanes, and have had the occasionally mild earthquake. What the...? And here I sat with nothing around the house to warn us in the middle of the night if something is heading our way. I also wasn't expecting to live close to the Bay and a hurricane would do some seriously mess with our home.

This bad boy will alert us anywhere in this house because the alarm is LOUD! lol The first night we had it plugged in, it went off downstairs at like 4am. Thankfully I figured out how to work that radio and we shouldn't be freaked out at 4am unless absolutely necessary! Let me just say, it's been moved to the bedroom so it can alert us and we can make decisions on what to do after the alert.

Now we have the new WR120 from Midland to help keep us alerted to any weather that would effect us and our home. It was extremely easy to set up.

What I like about weather radios is that you can pick the areas around you that you know you're close to, which is called Specific Area Message Encoding. You can pick up to 25 of those areas! I've usually picked the ones that surround out county. That way if something is possibly heading to our area, we'll know with plenty of notice.

I decided on the tone display at the lowed volume. I figured the voice might freak me out in the middle of the night and the display wouldn't wake me up even thought it's bright enough. Even at the lowest volume it's enough to wake us up in the middle of the night.

When we lived in Minnesota, we had a type of shelter in our house that was mostly surrounded with concrete and was under the stairs. We called it the cubby. If we heard the word "tornado" and it was anywhere near us, we'd head into the cubby and sit there until the weather had passed us. I always just kept a deck of cards down there and had them grab something from their room to pass the time.

Now I know it would've been better to have kit created for each kid so they could just have it in the cubby or safe place when the need arose. Every spring or late fall we ended up sitting down there for at least 15 minutes. I put together a couple of kits to give you ideas of what you could include:

Bad Weather Survival Kits For Kids

• Granola Bar
• Water Bottle
• Deck of Cards
• Travel Game
• Activity Book
• Crayons
• Rubik's Cube
• Sudoku (for mom or dad)

A great place to find some inexpensive books and games is at a dollar store or maybe even Goodwill! Super easy to keep the kids distracted, especially if you end up having to stay in your safe area for longer than expected.

I'm glad to have a weather radio again. I can't think of a home that couldn't put one to use, whether for a thunderstorm, tornado, or other bad weather that could effect your family.

The Purity Box

So far with each of my four kids, we've had the purity talk. Having grown up without any sense of making good choices, it was extremely important for me to let my kids know there IS an option other than doing what everyone else does. They don't have to experiment. They CAN save themselves for marriage, and it's ok!

For me, training up my kids in this starts a lot earlier than when they're in middle to high school. It starts when they're younger. It's part of the conversation and how I raise them. We all learn at a very young age how we should approach certain things in life. One of the first lessons I learned, when I was training up my girls, was how I was going to train up my boys.

It's never been about telling them what to do. It's been about explaining why I ask them to do something. If we're at the movies and previews aren't appropriate, I ask them to look elsewhere. Why? Because boys/men store thousands of images in their brains. If they fill their brains with half naked women, women undressing, or people engaging in any form of sensuality, then those images will come to mind over and over again.

That being said, I've conveyed to them how beautiful a woman's body is. That our bodies were made to enjoy sex and experience intimacy. God created us with that desire and drive. If God created it, then it's not a bad thing, right? What I believe is that it's to be saved for marriage. Unfortunately, I will never have the joy of giving myself to one person. I will never know what it's like to save my all for the person I hope to spend my life with. My prayer is that all four of my children will. They might not, but my hope is that they will.

So, what's up with this purity box? It's something that came to me when my oldest daughter was entering her teens. We hear about luggage that we pull and drag with us as we go from relationship to relationship, right? I wanted my kids to understand that their purity is a gift. It doesn't have to be luggage.

I wrapped a box that has a ring inside it. I gave this one to my youngest son. Here's how it works. We give the box to my son. I explain pretty much what I've shared here. That his gift to his wife will be his purity. With the hope that he's saved himself for his future wife, he can present her the ring that's inside.

We let him know that we love him and share what we believe God has designed intimacy for. Then we explain what happens to his gift if he decides he'd like to share it with someone else before his wife. He may end up getting some tears in the wrapping. Maybe he and a girl only date for a couple of months and don't go "all the way." Well, we know that intimacy is intimacy no matter what "base" they make it to.

Maybe he decides he likes how it feels to be in a relationship or just the intimacy with a girl. The more relationships he's in the more the gift is ripped and torn. And it's not just physical intimacy that effects the box. Emotional and mental intimacy (basically baggage) begins to deteriorate the box as well. Since we can't see the future, we don't know what kind of shape the box would be in by the time he finds "the one." What he CAN see is what the gift could potentially look like when he hands it to his future wife.

The kids are able to see the contrast between the gift when it's first presented to them from us, to when he's ready in life to give it to the woman he loves. As he's growing up, he has a choice to make. It's not easy to make what we consider to be the right choice. It's not the popular choice in the world we live in. That's ok. Isn't everyone encouraged to buck the trend? These days I figure pursuing purity is doing just that!

Giving our kids a purity ring or necklace isn't the end all be all of the discussion. It's open ended. It's also not a magical box. I know it won't make it so my kids don't make different choices. It's mostly symbolic of our hope for our kids. We love them and definitely want what's best for them. Purity is what we hope and pray they'll choose.