Solomon’s Whisper by Sandra Brannan (Liv Bergen Mystery #5)

Solomon’s Whisper is book #5 in the Liv Bergen mystery series by the author Sandra Brannan. Currently there is a book tour supporting the author and this novel, so I figured I help as well, especially considering that the theme of the book is a favorite of mine: FBI agents solving crimes.

Liv Bergen is an ex-miner turned FBI agent, who is now thinking of leaving the FBI to return to her old calling and be closer to her family again. This would greatly put her mind at ease about placing her family in danger by working with the FBI against heinous criminals.

I’m pretty sure her decision has to do something with what happened in one of the previous books in the series, which I am not privy to as I haven’t read any of the prior books.

Liv’s colleague and mentor, Streeter Pierce tries everything in his power to keep Liv from leaving, including asking her for a condition: to stick around for 6 more months before she finally decides to leave. Soon I get another glimpse of what probably started in a previous book: Streeter comes with his own personal baggage, but one thing is sure: he has rather strong feelings for Liv. But Liv is in love with another FBI agent, Jack Linwood, who is away at the moment on a deep fishing expedition, completely out of touch for a few weeks. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Liv can’t feel a flutter or two in hear heart every time she is around Streeter…

Closing her 5th conditional month of stay, to keep Liv around and get her to change her mind about leaving the FBI, Streeter gives her a nice carrot to chew on: the opportunity of solving a cold case involving the murder of her niece Brianna, crime which happened several years ago. The murder was brutal and her sister has never recovered from losing her daughter. The family went apart and now finally Liz has the chance of at least giving her sister some closure, while at the same time putting a monster away for good.

While unraveling the cold case in her spare time, Liv also works on another one in her official capacity. Soon the cases not only start to connect in strange ways, but they also seem to be part of something much bigger, a series of murders involving kids spanning several states and years.

I won’t spoil more of the plot, which is as thick as a bush left to grown unattended. There are many twists and turns and dander lurks pretty much all the time. This book is a real page turner, which is basically my type of read. I couldn’t get enough and I was a bit sad to see the story and so soon.

And boy, the ending! I was so sure about who the killer was – only to realize that this was a major red herring – and Major with a capital M. But in a way the ending was quite satisfying, even though it saddened me to no end. But of course now Liv has some choices and options ahead of her, both in her career, as well as in her personal life.

Liv is a woman after my own heart. Strong, intelligent, witted but also humble when it comes to it. She should definitely stick around the FBI, as I can’t see her doing anything else – including mining! She’s a darn good investigator, that I could see from one book I’ve read – merely a glimpse of great character that I’d really love to read more about.

And this brings me to only negative that I have to say about the book: do not, under any circumstance, read the books in the Liv Bergen series out of order. While many mystery series can be read as stand alone, not this one. You lose a lot of character development, and some decisions made in this book are reflections of past happenings. I had to detract a half star from my rating as there were moments in the book where I was a bit lost, not having the necessary background to follow everything the way I wanted.

Looking to the future, however, I’m really curious to see how will Liz fare not only with the FBI – but will she have a chance with Streeter – and if yes, will she take it?

Overall this was a fantastic novel which is surprising coming from an unknown author to me. I was so sure I knew where all the real gems were, and this one was definitely hiding!