Midnight Beach: A Port Stirling Mystery

This like the previous book was a spell binder and one I couldn’t put down until I finished it….Characters are well developed and it manages to add the friendship component as well…Keep writing and I’ll keep reading! Excellent!

I really like the characters and look forward to what’s coming next. The climactic scene at the end held my attention

What a roller-coaster ride of a story with so many twists and turns it made my head spin!! Plot and characters are great and loved the shocking ending!!

Borrowing liberally from a 40 year old drug interdiction case, Jennings tackles an ambitious plot in Midnight Beach, with limited success. Police chief Matt Horning and team investigate another murder in Port Stirling but this time the team faces the grisly murder of a federal agent working undercover to halt a massive drug smuggling operation.As a police procedural, the book falls short of any passing reality. Jennings weirdly inserts an obscure bureau of the US State Department as the main investigating federal agency (even though this does not appear to be their mission) and then she conveniently relegates it to the background. She essentially places it under Horning’s authority. This enables Horning to maintain his alpha-hero status in the book. I appreciate Midnight Beach is fiction, but I also expect the plot to contain enough links to reality to remain plausible. It doesn’t.Horning’s character departs from the Horning we met in book one. Jennings includes a few scenes depicting an overwrought Horning who is prone to outbursts. He is uncharacteristically fretful as well. The cause of these false notes stems from the addition of the romance subplot, a totally unnecessary and unwelcome thread. I also question what Jennings does with the Fern character. Jennings portrays her as tough, smart, hot tempered (who has red hair) and beautiful (of course). Jennings then creates a scene where Fern shows abysmal judgment. Fern’s appalling decision is annoying because it’s contrived and designed to move the plot.The excellent sense of place depicted in book one is lacking but the narrative flows solidly. The quirky writing choices reappear. For example in places describing multiple characters’ actions, Jennings opts for pedestrian, terse recaps in a list fashion. Yet in other places, the narrative digresses into irrelevant minutiae, such as the lengthy descriptions about Horning’s second bedroom becoming his home office.Overall rating: 2+ stars generously rounded to 3. Aside from the issues noted above, the narrative engages and moves quickly.

Anyone who enjoys police investigations, international crime dramas combined with local small town communities will enjoy this. Lots of fast paced action and gorgeous descriptions of the Oregon coast. I was torn between a 4-5 star rating but I thought I’d give this novel the benefit of the doubt. Happy reading

It didn’t get the master mind at end!

In this engaging police procedural, we meet Matt Horning, the new police chief in the small town of Port Sterling, on the Oregon Coast. Horning is a 40ish, single, alpha male (one character calls him a “studmuffin”) with emotional baggage from his former job in Texas and a trust issue with his team. When a federal agent is found decapitated in a marshy area near the sea, he faces the challenge of his career and the town’s second murder case in just a few months. (The case covered in the previous novel in this series, Shallow Waters, is referenced several times, but Midnight Beach can easily be read as a standalone.) The agent was investigating an international smuggling operation, and the resources of the small police department, even with some state and federal help, are stretched in suspenseful and character-defining ways. Jennings’ scene setting here is skillful, with the local ambiance, seascape, and weather described in detail, making me wish I could visit. The crime is ultimately solved in a spectacular denouement that has intriguing implications for Horning’s relationship with both his team and his personal life.

I chose to read this book as the 2nd in series. I also chose it because of the months of summer when I lived at my family home on the Pacific. I knew I would relate to the Oregon setting, having grown up there. The plot and people were engaging; I knew that I would read until I finished the book. Us retired folk have that luxury. Now, to begin the next book in series; thanks for writing it!

Bought for my mother-in-law who is a crime/thriller/who dunnit book snob :) She LOVED them.