Burning Proof ~ Review and Author Q and A

Burning Proof
Cold Case Justice #2
Janice Cantore

Abby Hart has decided to put the murders of her parents behind her.  The last hope she had for getting answers died the same day as her old partner.  But Asa Foster's dying words won't let Luke Murphy rest.  What did Asa mean when he said "There is proof"?  Luke and Woody are determined to follow up on Asa's words but not wanting to give Abby false hope of a resolution they keep their personal investigation quiet.  

But Abby's decision to leave the past behind makes an abrupt 360 degree turn when an arrest goes wrong.  Suddenly dealing with the ghosts of the past and the failures of the present becomes very important.  Abby has some decisions to make regarding her future - police officer, wife, missionary? Where will her heart lead her?

Ten years ago a young woman barely escaped from her abductor.  He was never caught.  This case has come to the attention of Luke and Woody and they are determined to help this victim find closure and peace.  But this case needs more than what they can bring to it - it needs Abby.

Burning Proof is the sequel to Drawing Fire where we are introduced to the characters.  This continues the story but we are given glimpses of someone behind the scenes who is determined to keep the Triple Seven murders unsolved.  And this unknown person will do anything to hide the truth forever.

Burning Proof is an exciting addition from the pen of Janice Cantore.  Delving into the mind of a officer who is suffering from doubts about her split second decision.  One gets a unique perspective of the law enforcement from Janice's own experiences as an officer.

Some questions are answered while new ones are raised.  Some sequels are just not up to the quality of the first book but there is no letdown in this second offering in the Cold Case Justice series.  If you like suspense in your fiction you need to read this book.

I was provided a complementary copy of this book by Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.

Something like a sob and a groan escaped his lips. 

He raised his gun and fired. 

So did Abby. 

                                      ~from page 5

About the Book:

After months of investigating the brutal homicide of a young girl, Detective Abby Hart finally has the evidence she needs. But when the arrest goes terribly wrong, Abby begins to doubt her future as a police officer. As she wrestles with conflicting emotions, old questions about the fire that took her parents’ lives come back to haunt her.

“There is proof.” PI Luke Murphy can’t stop thinking about what Abby’s former partner, Asa Foster, mumbled just before he died. When he uncovers a clue to the murder of Abby’s parents and his uncle, he’s reluctant to tell Abby, despite his growing feelings for the beautiful detective.

A decade-old abduction case brings Luke and Abby together, but will his secret tear them apart?

Author Interview:

1) Tell us what spurred you on to became a writer after you retired from 22 years as a Long Beach Police Officer. 

  ~ I’ve always wanted to write. When I was a kid I wrote horse stories. I took a creative wiring class in college and my teacher really wasn’t very encouraging so I just put the desire on the shelf. It wasn’t until I’d been an officer for a few years and experienced the Rodney King riots that the desire to write took hold again. I tired writing stories about the riots, trying to convey all the emotions I felt at the time. Those stories never went anywhere, but I realized that I had a lot of stories in me and began writing, going to conferences and really working on the craft.

2) How did you come up with the idea for your Cold Case Justice series, Drawing Fire and Burning Proof? 

  ~ I love the program Castle, that was where the idea came from. I tweaked it, developed Luke and Abby, and went from there.

3) Are either of your characters Abby or Luke modeled after anyone you encountered during your days at the LBPD?

  ~ Not really. They are at most composites of people I worked with or came across.

4) As you reveal in Burning Proof…there are many struggles and stresses that come with being a police officer. You have certainly seen what a fatal event can do to the psyche of an officer, can you share what often goes on from an insider’s point of view? 

  ~ Tragedy can become routine. There needs to be a way to separate yourself from the situation, do your job, and not let the tragedy take you with it. I remember once, I was working the information desk at the downtown station so I didn’t personally handle the call, but officers responded to a horrible call, a man had drowned his two young children in the tub and then tossed their bodies into the dumpster behind his residence. It was a huge deal and I fielded many calls from news agencies. At the information desk I was tasked with giving out what ever public information we had to the press, or anyone who inquired. This meant I had to talk about the event over and over an it began to get aggravating. The press wanted details we couldn’t give and they just kept calling. At one point the press officer, who’d been working many hours overtime, came to the front desk to ask me about the calls and to get some help with the press release. In police work DB means ‘dead body’ and it’s a commonly used abbreviation. Well, the bodies had been recovered from a dumpster, so they became dumpster babies, the abbreviation DB hit us right between the eyes and we began to laugh about the initials, the kind of punch drunk laughing that happens when you’re too tired and too stressed. It was not a funny situation, but sometimes you got so close to bad stuff that laughter was the only way to relieve the pressure. The pressure does need to be relieved, too many officers commit suicide because they internalize all the negative.