Open Season
Amid racial tensions and the deadly-force controversy sweeping the city, they are unlikely and unwilling partners.
Book Description:
Open Season – considered by some readers as “Lethal Weapon” set in Dallas with female leads – introduces two women homicide detectives, Sarah Kingsly and Angel Johnson. Amid racial tensions and the deadly-force controversy sweeping the city, they are unlikely and unwilling partners.
The pairing is better PR than policy.
The Dallas Review Board wants Sarah’s badge after she shot a young black boy when an undercover drug operation went south, and her partner was killed. Angel is under pressure from her family to refuse to work with “this white, honkey bitch.”
Their first case, dubbed the Mall Murders, begins with the death of a maintenance worker at an upscale shopping mall, followed closely by the murder of a security guard at another mall. The final murder victim is a young window dresser whose body is left like a mannequin behind the glass of an exclusive boutique at the Galleria Mall.
In this police procedural mystery, the women follow the trail of a killer until it comes close to home, and they have to decide if they can be partners or not.
Reviews for the Book
Detective Sarah Kingsly of the Crimes Aganst Persons division in Dalas Texas recently lost her partner in an undercover gone bad and she was forced to shoot a 14 year old boy. Now she's under investigation for the shooting plus for the fact she's a white cop involved in killing a black teen. Detective Angel Johnson is new to the detective bureau. She wonders if her promotion was because of her brains and hard work or because she's a black woman. Even more questions pop up for Angel when she's partnered with Sarah. Is she partnered with Sarah because she needs a partner or is it political or to please the media and public? Did she really need to shoot that boy or is she racist? Sarah has everyone breathing down her neck about the shooting, especially the African - American community led by the righteous Reverend Billie Norton calling for her to be fired and prosecuted. The only one sticking up for her is her Lieutenant, he's doing all he can to defent her. Angel has her own problems outside of work, her mom is in the hospital, hit by a drunk driver and her dad thinks she's a traitor for allowing herself to be partnered with a white cop. Now on top of all of this they're thrown into an investigation into murders beng committed in malls. It's kind of hard to solve a crime with someone who doesn't want to be your partner. Sarah and Angel both have issues with each other but can they put them a side to solve this case? This is a fast paced thriller that also touches on the relationship between race, politics and the police. I love the fact that the two main characters are strong women who know their own minds. The fact that they're different races only added to the tension between them, and both of them being strong and stubborn didn't help ease them into being partners. Neither wanted to give an inch so it was a battle of wills while trying to do their job. The way the author touched on race relations was done with respect and dignity and was written so well I actually started to dislike both their attitudes toward each other. If you're into thrillers with strong female leads then don't hesitate to grab this one right now, it's definitely worth it. I plan to read the next book with Sarah and Angel, they make one hell of a team. Independent reviewer for Romance Authors That Rock. - Mindyg123
About the Author: Maryann Miller
Maryann Miller, an award-winning author, has been in love with story-telling since she was a child and used to scare her sister with stories of the monsters in the cellar. Those tales were never written down. They were always whispered in the dark, and when Maryann started writing stories, they were different types entirely.
As a young child, she didn’t consider that she would grow up to be a writer. She fancied herself quite the singer and thought she would someday sing in front of crowds of thousands. Alas, that proved to be more dream than reality.
At another point in her childhood, she dreamed of being an actress, but it took many years before she was brave enough to give it a try. For fifteen years she was the Theatre Directer at the Winnsboro Center for the Arts where she directed shows for some time before getting brave enough to step on stage. It appears she was more suited to acting than singing, and she has since starred in several productions at various community theatres in East Texas.
A diverse writer of columns, feature stores, short fiction, novels, screenplays and stage plays, Maryann has won numerous awards including being a semi-finalist at the Sundance Institute for her screenplay, A Question Of Honor. She has also received the Page Edwards Short Story Award and the 2015 Best Mystery award for Doubletake.
Miller lives in a small town in NE Texas with one dog, and four cats. The cats rule! She has been writing all her life and plans to die at her computer.
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