“Blind Trust” picks up where the first book in the series left off — shortly after Molly Gilmore was arrested for murdering Kate’s partner, Daisy, as well as attempting to kill Kate.
Kate, who is attempting to block GPC Pharmaceuticals from coming to town, is quickly thrown into a counterfeiting problem after buying groceries for her elderly neighbor, Verna. Kate and her good “friend” Detective Tom Parker, who would like to be more than a friend, are thrown into a case full of twists and turns. How is Verna involved? Or is Verna’s housekeeper, Lucetta, involved? How does this case relate to Daisy’s murder, if at all? And what about the mysterious death of Kate’s father 20 years ago?
Sandra Orchard fills her novel with lots of twists and turns, and many plot surprises. I often found myself saying, “I didn’t see that one coming!” The story definitely keeps the reader guessing until the end. So many characters are shown as credible possibilities as to being involved.
I also really enjoyed the playful, flirtatious and yet, at times, irritated banter between Kate and Tom. These two characters really played well off of each other.
I will say I found the book’s beginning slightly confusing at times. If you haven’t read the first book (which I had not), the current counterfeiting case getting mixed in with former plot lines from the prior book became hard to follow occasionally. Perhaps the author could have added a prelude to fill in the reader who is picking up “Blind Trust” without having read the first installment in the “Port Aster Secrets” series.
Having said that, I’m really looking forward to seeing how Kate’s story plays out in the next installment.
So, due to the brief confusion at the beginning while I attempted to figure out what plot line I was following, I’ll give this book four out of five stars.
Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, provided this complimentary copy for my honest, unbiased review.