The Stranger You Seek by Amanda Kyle Williams

Keye Street pays her bills by chasing down bail jumpers, spying on cheating spouses, serving subpoenas and working for corporate accounts. She has her own private investigative business, but she misses the adrenaline of her old job, FBI profiler. However, Keye made some mistakes and now she has to live with them. She was addicted to the bottle and there was no room for it in her line of work. She was let go, her marriage crumbled and she valiantly picked up the pieces and carved a new life for herself.


Her best friend is Homicide Detective Aaron Rauser. He asks Keye for her help on a case he is working on. Someone is murdering people, leaving his mark, but there is no evidence and nothing to link up the cases. Keye does her best to help, but the case isn't getting any new clues and more deaths are occurring. The killer, named the Wishbone by the local papers, begins to taunt the police, sending letters to the media. He turns the heat on when he taunts Keye herself, through personal email, then running her off the road, with her ending up in the hospital.

Rauser is sure he knows who the killer is, someone close to Keye and her friends. Although Keye believes it is possible, her investigation moves in another direction when another body is found, while the suspect was in jail. Will Keye and Rauser find the link between the murders before one of them winds up dead?

The Stranger You Seek is a thrilling debut that kept me thoroughly entertained. Keye is a complex, realistic character with heart, determination, her own emotional baggage and the courage to survive. The secondary characters are great support for Keye. I especially liked Keye's father who just told it like it was, with no regard to the outcome. The plot was tight, the writing seamless and I never guessed who the killer was until the author led me to it. I can't wait to read another installment in this promising new series!