The past meets the present when Bree is called to a scene on the old family farm. Two bodies are found buried on the property dating back more than twenty years. Did her murderous dead father have something to do with it? Suppressed memories are plaguing Bree as she & Matt interview suspects and dig up the past. Not everyone is happy with the investigation, and she has to watch her back around her co-workers, town council, and the wealthy patriarchs with a lot to hide. Bree is facing her fears of long ago, new feelings for Matt, and her instincts on keeping her family together. Surprises await her that just might get her killed. ( )

Right Behind Her
4 Stars

In pursuit of a squatter on her parents' derelict property, Sheriff Bree Taggert and her younger brother, Adam, discover a pair of human skeletons. When the remains are dated, Bree realizes that her father is a suspect, and she is forced to confront the memories of the night he killed her mother and himself. Then the victims are identified and a slew of additional suspects arise - one of whom would not hesitate to kill again...

While this is the best installment in the series so far with a better mix of suspense and romance, there are still a couple of plot and character inconsistencies.

Bree and Matt's investigation into the human remains found on the old Taggert farm is compelling with several convincing suspects and a satisfying explanation. Moreover, the climax and resolution are intense and suspenseful. Nevertheless, there are a couple of plotting problems.

To begin with, Leigh deliberately omits certain details from the prologue, such as the number of people present and the victim descriptions, such as the fact that Jane's broken legs were consistent with being hit by a car, in order to mislead the reader.

In addition, Leigh limits her characterization to the extent that revelations about several characters' personalities, such as Curtis's sexuality and Elias's sadism, only become evident at the end. This is, once again, unfairly misleading.

In terms of Bree and Matt's romance, the physical attraction and emotional connection missing from the first three books are finally addressed as they take their relationship to the next level.

All in all, Leigh is a good storyteller and her books are entertaining. That said, she needs to work on incorporating misdirection into her writing without leaving out important information. ( )

WHAT'S RIGHT BEHIND HER ABOUT?
Since Bree has moved back, her brother Adam has been trying to get her to go visit their childhood home with him. It's important for him to reconnect with her there, to get her help understanding the place where their father murdered their mother and then killed himself—he was too young to remember anything. He thinks it'll be good for her, too. Bree has put it off for months, but as the novel opens, they're finally there.

She's able to show Adam around a little before things get too overwhelming for her—as they start to leave they stumble on someone squatting in their old barn. There's an altercation, and in the aftermath, one of Bree's deputies stumbles upon some human remains that had been buried in a shallow grave.

It's a lot to ask of a novel's first twenty pages—significantly advance a story arc and introduce the instigating event for a police procedural. All without cutting to a song by The Who (although one, or the NCIS/Castle instrumental themes, would have worked well at the close of Chapter 3). It's the best opening in the series so far.

Given the evidence around the bodies, the killings happened long enough ago that Bree's father is a suspect—but there are others as well. Bree and Matt turn up a lot of old secrets and scandals in their hunt for the murderer. And many of those involve Bree's family.

Meanwhile, the County Supervisors are finally meeting with Bree about her budget—and it's not going well. It doesn't help that the squatter she arrested is the drug-addicted brother of one of the Supervisors directly involved.

Basically, this is not going to be the easiest period of her new career as County Sherrif.

I ADMIT TO SOME APPREHENSION
Let me preface this by saying that I like the series, and that doesn't change in this book. Still, I think the books could easily become over-dramatic. Leigh's avoided that, but there've been a time or two that I worried she might not. However, when I read in the description:

When he mysteriously disappears and Bree's niece is kidnapped...

I will admit that I got nervous. This could easily have taken on the air of some sort of Lifetime movie or something. Her niece and nephew are great as part of Bree's non-professional life—I really think things could get overwrought if they become part of the procedural.

It didn't. Not even close. I breathed a big sigh of relief. I still think it's a danger moving forward, but that's for another day (or not).

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT RIGHT BEHIND HER?
This is easily the best of the series—in terms of writing, character, complexity of the case, and overall execution. While I've enjoyed them all, the second and third books made me wonder a bit if the series could live up to the expectations set by the first—I'm not that worried anymore.

There've been three storylines that have been going since the debut and I feared Leigh was going to stretch them out another 2+ books before really doing anything with them, and she made noticeable advancements in them all—actually, in every ongoing story, but those are the ones that were starting to chafe.

I still want a little more for Chief Deputy Todd Harvey. If Leigh had given us that in addition to all the rest? I'd probably be raving about this. I'm still recommending it heartily, but I'd be doing it with an exclamation point if she'd done something with Todd.

There's some good sleuthing here, some great character moments, solid action, and even a little romance. If you like your police procedurals to have some heart, you'd do well to give these a try. I'm eager to see where Leigh takes these characters next, and I think you will be, too. ( )

Two bodies are found on Bree's family farm. Who are they and who killed them? Was Bree's father even more evil than previously thought? As Bree, Matt, and the rest of the team investigate one thing is clear, someone does not want them to solve these thirty year old murders.

*SIGH* Sometimes I feel like I would be lost in life without my favorite book authors and Melinda is one of them. Reading her books is like watching your favorite TV show except, of course, the book is better.

In Right Behind Her we get to see Bree a start to realize how much she needs her family and the walls she's built to protect herself are finally starting to crumble. I think this might be why I liked the story so much, it was so personal for Bree and her family. Sometimes we just need that from the characters we know and love. ( )

Adam has finally convinced Bree to visit their childhood home which he now owns. Adam wants to remember things that happened there when he was a baby. Bree was eight-years-old and remembers all too well the night her father killed her mother and then himself while she hid with her younger sister and infant Adam under the porch. She has been trying to block those memories for twenty-seven years.

As they explore the property, they discover that a man has been living in the loft of the abandoned barn. He attacks them and runs leaving Bree to catch him. They discover that he is the brother of a local big shot - one who has strong influence on the sheriff's department budget. Arresting him doesn't make Bree's efforts to get money for the sheriff's department more likely.

Things get worse when bones are discovered near where her father kept his dogs. The bones lead to a murder investigation thirty years old and Bree and Adam's deceased father is one of the suspects. As Bree and her boyfriend Matt investigate, old and long-buried secrets resurface and a killer tries to keep them buried.

This story was packed with action and had great characters. I like watching Bree learn to deal with her childhood trauma and build relationships with her niece and nephew and with Matt. Overcoming her abusive childhood in order to make a better life for herself and for the children in her care is a goal she's working on.

Fans of this series, of which this is the fourth book, will enjoy the action, mystery, and the strong characters. New readers will enjoy getting to know Bree, Matt, and her family. ( )