Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Dead Man's List by Karen Rose Narrator: Hillary Huber
Series: Romantic Suspense #31, San Diego #3
Published by Penguin Audio on March 4, 2025
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Length: 13 hours, 54 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple
On a long-anticipated second date with police psychologist Dr. Sam Reeves—right as things are getting steamy—Kit stumbles across the mutilated body of a local San Diego politician. The politician is loved by many of his constituents but is hated and reviled by many more. That the suspect list is long is no surprise to anyone, but exactly who ends up on it stuns Kit and her team.
As the SDPD reveal the victim’s sinister dealings, Kit and Sam are forced to navigate the lawless world of the city’s most rich and powerful citizens to find answers. But time is rapidly running out, with their sources of information dropping like flies as the killer methodically eliminates loose ends—and anyone else who stands in the way.
I love the Romantic Suspense series. I’ve read them all. I started the series with the first Cincinnati book, with Faith and Deacon. It was actually #16 overall. Then I went back and read the previous 15 books. I would not jump into this in the middle of a series. One could start at the beginning of a city since those stories connect well, and they seem to be labelled on Goodreads.
The San Diego series continues with Dead Man’s List. This city’s series is different because rather than one couple / romance per book, this romance is very slow burn taking 3 books so far. The main characters are Kit McKittrick, a homicide detective and Sam Reeves, a therapist. Sam does some work with profiling for the department, as well as a lot of volunteer work.
Kit grew up in the foster system until as a teenager she came to the McKittricks and was adopted. Her impetus to become a police officer started when her sister Wren was murdered. Her background makes her a bit prickly to trust anyone but Sam is willing to wait for her. They finally have a date in this book.
The case(s) are complicated here. There is the dead body of a city councilman who was obviously tortured. There are lots of shady aspects of him and Kit and her team figure out he was blackmailing people. Kit and her partner, Connor, along with Sam, figure out more about who is blackmailing and who is being blackmailed. Unfortunately, too many of the people they want to question end up dead on both lists.
Apparently, there was a list of everyone being blackmailed along with their “crimes” and amounts in a notebook, so everyone is looking for that list. Eventually, there is someone on the list who gives evidence of others on the list and they can really question those being blackmailed. Nobody wants to tell the truth! The team does have some success tracing vehicles through some surveillance cameras. They also get a break when a family member comes forward with more information on one of the blackmailed.
There is another councilman who is being prosecuted for killing Rita’s mother. He has been anonymously harassing Rita while out on bail but his trial is coming up soon. He tries to come forward with info to get an immunity deal but Kit and the prosecutors don’t want to give him any deals. Kit doesn’t find it hard to believe he is another blackmail victim though.
I enjoy the smart strategy of police work and the excellent efforts of the team. They do have some missteps here but they head down the right track. There is plenty of plot and fast paced action. The author is excellent at developing the characters. The McKittricks are a special bunch and I enjoy their family and the meals they share with family and friends. Sam is so patient with Kit and their romance is actually starting now, so I wonder if we will get at least one more book in San Diego.
Narration:
Hillary Huber is one of my favorite narrators. I normally read this series in ebook but this time ended up with an audio ARC. I really enjoyed the performance. I listened at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Hillary Huber
Hillary has recorded over 500 audiobooks spanning many genres. She is a multiple Audie Award finalist – including Best Female Narrator, multiple Earphone Award winner, Voice Arts Awards winner and one of Audiofile Magazine’s best voices. Hillary has a BA in English Literature and is a voracious reader and listener. Raised in conservative Connecticut and hippy Hawaii, she has unique perspective. She splits her time between Santa Monica and New York. Most of that time is in a 4×4 padded room. Er…booth.
About Karen Rose
Internationally bestselling, RITA-award winning, author Karen Rose was born and raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. She met her husband, Martin, on a blind date when they were seventeen and after they both graduated from the University of Maryland, (Karen with a degree in Chemical Engineering) they moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Karen worked as an engineer for a large consumer goods company, earning two patents, but as Karen says, “scenes were roiling in my head and I couldn’t concentrate on my job so I started writing them down. I started out writing for fun, and soon found I was hooked.”
Her debut suspense novel, DON’T TELL, was released in July, 2003. Her novels, I’M WATCHING YOU and SILENT SCREAM, received the Romance Writers of America’s RITA award for Best Romantic Suspense for 2005 and 2011. Five of her other books have been RITA finalists. To date, her books have been translated into twenty-four languages.
A former high school teacher of chemistry and physics, Karen lives in Florida with her husband of more than twenty years, her two daughters, two dogs, and a cat.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 25-Audio
- 25-COYER
I do like the one couple per book style sometimes, but I think I’d also like the romance spread out over more books like this. Awesome review!
Thank you Tammy. It’s different than the rest of her books but these are very good books.
I don’t know why, because I’ve loved several of her previous detecting teams, but I just can’t get into Kit so I skipped this one. I’m so glad it was exciting and they had a tough case to crack.
Their slow burn is different from all her others. I still enjoy her character and world building.
So is it like one giant set of sub-series set in the same world, but different locations/characters?
yes. Some of the people in cities end up connecting to people in other series sometimes. You could pick any location and read that series as a series on its own pretty well though.
I like the sound of this one. Good to know that it’s better to start at the beginning of the series. I wonder if my library has all of them. Here’s hoping! 😀
You could choose any city to start. Just start at the beginning of a city. I always prefer to start at the beginning overall though.
This will be the year I get back to this series! Wonderful review, Anne💜
Thank you Jonetta. Some of these long series are… long. I hope you enjoy it.
I’ve always wanted to read Karen Rose so I appreciate you explaining how I can jump into this series by location 😉 So happy you enjoyed this one, especially listening which isn’t how you usually enjoy this author. I’ll have to give Karen Rose a go (maybe for the readathon since she’s on my shelf!) and I’ll give Hillary Huber a listen as well. 😊
Thank you Brandee. I believe you would really enjoy the series, any of them, as they are so well written. They are longer than average romantic suspense books but they read so quickly for me.
I’ll be reading today for my review to post on Friday so I’ll come back and read this then. I’m always behind!
Aw I don’t believe you are always behind. I look forward to your thoughts. This city is a different style than the other cities.
I’ll have to pick the first book up. I don’t mind a slow burn in a suspense title and this sounds interesting.
I hope you love it!
I am always excited when a new Karen Rose book comes out. Sometimes I like it when the romance gets stretched out like that, it feels more realistic.
yes this series is different than all the other cities where each couple gets one book.
Another series I just really think my mom would like if I could get her to pick them up. Great review!
These are romantic suspense so there are normally strong romance plots in each book. This city’s series the romance and characters stretch over 3 books so far. The author is so great with plot, characters and world-building.
31!?!?!?!?!! woah.
yes but you can read just each city rather than the whole series.