"One Deadly Sin" by Annie Solomon

I won a copy of One Deadly Sin by Annie Solomon from a giveaway on another book review blog, Chic Book Reviews. I initially heard about the book on that site, and read the review posted there. I was psyched by what I learned, and even more excited when I found out that I had actually won. I waited rather (im)patiently for the book to arrive, and did a little happy dance when the UPS man showed up.

One Deadly Sin is the story of Edie Swann, formerly Eden Swanford, and her return to her childhood hometown of Rosebud, Tennessee. When she was just a little girl, she suffered through her father’s suicide and her mother’s mental collapse. Young Edie is sent to live with her aunt, who eventually reveals the suspicious circumstances surrounding her father’s death. He was accused of embezzling a large amount of money from his employer, the Hammerbilt plant, which is also the small town’s primary employer. Instead of facing the legal repercussions, he jumped to his death in the town’s quarry. However, no one close to him really believed he was capable of theft. Edie’s aunt provides her with a list of names of associates within the company who may have more information.

After her aunt’s death, Edie returns back to Rosebud. By this time she has changed her name and her appearance is nothing like anyone in town would recall. She is a black leather wearing, Harley driving, tatted up biker chick. Immediately upon her arrival she easily secures a job at a local bar. And catches the eye of the local law enforcement; more specifically Holt Drennan. Holt is not only the highest ranking law enforcement official in town, he is also the son of the man on the top of Edie’s list.

As the romance between Edie and Holt intensifies, she is put in the awkward position of bleeding a man that she is coming to care about for information while hiding her true identity. Edie begins distributing little plastic black angels to the men on her list, an homage to the memorial on her father’s grave. And one by one, the black angel recipients begin dying off. Soon Edie realizes that she is no longer playing with them, but that someone is toying with her. And as she becomes the focus of the “black angel” investigation, the secrets of her past come out. When they do, she loses her strongest ally as Holt realizes that she has been deceiving him.

All in all, the book wasn’t bad. It wasn’t as good as I was expecting, but it wasn’t bad. When the mystery was finally solved, I was certainly surprised by the culprit. And the romance between Edie and Holt was steamy (but not too graphic). In my opinion, One Deadly Sin was a 3 ½ star book. Solid, but not spectacular. If you are looking for a good, entertaining summer read, it definitely delivers. Just don’t go into it expecting to be blown away, and you won’t end up being disappointed.