American Nights
A Moriah Dru / Richard Lake Mystery #6
Gerrie Ferris Finger
Five Star, August 2016
ISBN 978-1-4328-3221-6
Hardcover
From the publisher—
Saudi Arabian prince, Husam al Saliba, hires child-finder Moriah Dru to find his missing wife, Reeve and daughter, Shahrazad.
The inquiry begins with Husam tells Dru of falling in love with Reeve, of turning his back on his ascendancy to the Saudi power structure for the woman he loves. He talks of his king’s disapproval of him marrying and siring an infidel.
But there are cracks in his story. At times he seems to long to return to the good graces of the royal family and marry cousin Aya and be an heir to kingship. Sometimes Dru thinks she’s fallen into a fairy tale, since the prince is fond of telling tales from the Arabian Nights.
Her search for mother and child had just begun when Reeve’s parents, Lowell and Donna Cresley were killed. They hated their prince son-in-law for fear of losing their grandchild to the land of his ancestors and for a generally racist attitude. The prince is immediately suspected when the Atlanta police, in the person of Dru’s lover Lt. Richard Lake, come into the case.
It’s soon evident infidelity abounds and everyone has something dreadful to hide.
When a four-year-old child and her mother go missing and a Middle Eastern prince hires Moriah to find his wife and daughter, she’s initially perplexed. This clearly is not the kind of abduction she would have expected involving Saudi law and religion and, with a French-born child and American mother, Interpol and a US federal agency should be looking for the pair. What makes it even more puzzling is that the prince insists that the investigation remain private. Moriah agrees to look into the matter but with one caveat…she must be allowed to discuss the case with her other half, Atlanta police lieutenant Richard Lake, although the APD will not be involved.
Most surprising of all is that, upon first meeting Prince Husam, he doesn’t seem very concerned, just slightly impatient that Reeve and Shara have been gone longer than usual. Still, it’s apparent that their disappearance could be connected to the king’s disapproval of the marriage and the need for a successor, most likely Husam.
When Reeve’s parents are murdered, the case takes on an entirely new aspect with hints of bigotry and infidelity and their hatred of Husam, leading Moriah and Lake in several directions. Every theory and idea they have, though, goes right out the window when Moriah learns that Husam is not at all who he purports to be and that he has some very powerful secrets.
As always, I enjoyed spending time with Moriah and Lake and this case takes them far beyond the norm. This is a couple I really like, largely due to the respect they have for each other and the way they can share information openly because of the absolute…and warranted…trust. They’re a power couple in their own way and about as appealing as can be. Ms. Finger has given us another winner 😉
Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, August 2016.
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