Close to Home (Tracy Crosswhite, 5)

Close To Home is the fifth book in the Tracy Crosswhite series by best-selling award-winning American author, Robert Dugoni. While one of her team, Del Castigliano, pursues the dealer who supplied the heroin that killed his niece, Tracy Crosswhite tracks down the driver of a hit and run. It was the black Subaru of a Naval Petty Officer that killed twelve-year-old D'Andre Miller, but the owner claims his vehicle was stolen.

When Seattle PD's CSI team gain access to the vehicle, it has been wiped clean. Just one tiny scrap, though, implicates the owner. After the Navy takes over jurisdiction, and before the officer can be tried, a critically important piece of evidence inexplicably goes missing, and some want to lay blame on the Navy-appointed defense counsel.

This instalment proceeds at a slower pace as the plot works through jurisdictional issues and the intricacies of security videos. Perhaps we can attribute Tracy's failure to pick up on certain details to her distraction with fertility issues and her sleep deprivation due to late-night shifts: luckily her husband is paying attention when it matters most.

Once again there are some diversions and red herrings as the body count increases in the lead-up to the dramatic climax. By this fifth book, fans of the series will be familiar with the regular characters' lives, so weight loss and romance for Del will compete with a certain piece of news that might radically change Tracy's and Daniel's lives. Bring on #6, A Steep Price. Addictive crime fiction.