When a homicide detective is called to an estate to investigate a murdered young woman she's shocked to find her partner and lover already there. She finds out her partner knows the estate owner and his wife who he was once engaged to. When another body is found in a lake she begins to suspect one of their old group while flirting with a handsome detective who's in charge of the other case. I thought this was engaging and I couldn't put it down and I would recommend this.

Detective Nan Vining returns for the sixth installment in this excellent series. A young woman’s body if found floating in the pool of a mega-mansion in Pasadena, CA. Who is she? Why was she murdered? And by whom? As Nan follows a twisted trail to answer these questions, past murders, and even her own past, rise up and threaten everything she holds dear—as well as her own life. Well written and plotted. This is a great read.

DP Lyle, award-winning author of the Jake Longly, Samantha Cody, and Dub Walker thriller series

This was an absorbing murder, mystery with lots of twist and turns. There were some very good characters linking well into the story and with some fascinating interactions. The conclusion was excellent with most of the uncertainties resolved. I hope Nan follows her heart!

Lying Blind: A Nan Emley Mystery
By Dianne Emley
Alibi
February 28, 2017

Review by Cynthia Chow

When Pasadena Homicide/Assault Police Detective Nan Vining is called to scene of a drowning at the Casa de las Ventanas estate, she immediately knows something is hinky. Not only is the blind owner of the home, Teddy Sexton, making inappropriate jokes and not taking the crime seriously, he is acting flirtatious and a little too touchy with Nan. Teddy’s assistant/brother-in-law as well has Nan on full alert, as the ex-con Floyd Johansing is so twitchy and ready to flee that he practically oozes guilt. Everyone on scene is lying to Nan, and that includes the first respondent Sergeant Jim Kissick, Nan’s boyfriend and a man with far too much history with the Sexton family. While Teddy and Floyd deny any knowledge of the young woman floating in the infinity pool, Jim is the one to point out her obvious resemblance to woman he initially thought was the corpse. The deceased could be a much younger version of Rebecca Sexton, who is Teddy’s wife, Floyd’s sister…and Jim’s ex-fiancé.

The more Nan learns about Jim and his connection to the Sextons, the less she trusts them. Jim stuns her with the news that not only were Teddy, Floyd, Becca, and Jim friends in college, their connection broke the night a playboy Teddy crashed his car in the accident that cost him his sight. Teddy has used an alternative facts version to craft a best-selling memoir, which he uses to justify his transformed life that supports charities and new age thinking. Nan is suspicious of his motivations and the rest of the Sextons, and the discovery of another body linked to the time of their college years does nothing to alleviate her wariness.

This is another first-rate police procedure that follows the investigations led by the strong, dedicated, and very sharp Detective Nan Vining. Past traumas, both on and off the job, have made her a better investigator and the mother of a teenaged daughter. The California setting comes alive as Nan is forced to delve into the elite and wealthy families who have more than their share of dirty secrets. Everyone is lying; the only question will be learning what they are lying about. What is thoroughly enjoyable to witness is Nan’s focus and clear thought-processes, as she is never deceived by the pretty veneer of the pretentious residents. The plot swiftly hurtles forward even as it takes time to explore Nan’s own personal life, which is being unsettled by her distrust of Jim and a new investor on the scene. An extremely satisfying conclusion rewards readers by highlighting Nan’s intelligence as an investigator, promising even more exploration of Nan’s professional and personal life.

Pleasant surprise! Great book. Enjoyed it very much. This author is one to be watched!! Look forward to more books

Two deaths twenty years apart, one in central California and one in Pasadena, bring our protagonists together for this well done procedural. It delves into the history of some of the protagonists and has enough chick lit to bring both old and new romances into it. The story is well written and absorbing. It is also fast reading. Great for a weekend. Thanks to Net Galley and Alibi for an ARC for an honest review.

This story grabbed me from the start and kept me guessing about, "who done it". I didn't want to put the book down and reluctantly had to put the book away each night when I could no longer keep my eyes open. Loved the main story line, the intelligent and not overly descriptive story line as well as the background story of the main character and her private life. Although this book stands just fine on its own I will definitely go back to the other books in this series. The ending of this installment gave resolution to the current case but also left room for wanting to find out more about unsolved issues....

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Although I have not read any previous Nan Vining mysteries, this story stood on its own and did not depend on prior knowledge of the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot development. The author's descriptions of the scenes made them realistic without being overdone. The identity of the guilty individual was not obvious until the end of the book. I look forward to reading more books by Dianne Emley.

A beautiful young woman found drowned in a pool; another young woman, missing for 20 years, whose remains are found under a motorcycle at the bottom of a lake; a group of friends which includes a police sergeant currently on the case.... This is the first book I've read by Dianne Emley, but I can't wait to read the others in this Nan Vining series! This book will grab you from page 1 and keep you reading late into the night. I'm now a huge fan of this author.
A big thank you to NetGalley, Alibi, and Dianne Emley for providing me with an advance draft copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A naked lady is found dead in the swimming pool of a wealthy couple- Rebecca and Ted- in Pasadena. Ted - the husband is blind but he has a great guide dog and his wife to get him around.Rebecca seems to look like the dead woman. Then Rebecca calls Jim instead of the police who is Nan’s ex partner and current long term boyfriend whom have been talking about marriage. Jim claims Rebecca called him because they are old friends but Nan believes Rebecca and Jim are more than old friends especially when she sees one of Rebecca’s pictures with Jim in it. Even though Nan and Jim have been together a long time she believes their whole relationship hasn’t been real. Especially when Jim says he needs a break and Nan believes Jim still has feelings for Rebecca. Then Rebecca, Ted, and Jim all get brought in for questioning on a murder investigation on a woman from many years ago. Both cases may be connected. The dead woman in the pool looks like Jim’s ex fiance who broke up with Jim twenty years ago. Nan partners up with Luke Buckhar from San Luis P D to get through the lies and secrets to solve both crimes. Nan’s investigation had lead to a college girl who had been missing for twenty years and her remains had just been found with Jim’s motorcycle on top of the body in the water.
Had mixed feelings about this book. I think most readers were able to guess what was going to happen next before it actually happened. Also there was too much on the two girls that find the body when their only role in this story was to find the body. The pace is this story is kinda slow . The reaction Rebecca and Ted have to a body in their pool is too overboard. I couldn’t seem to connect with the characters that well. But there were a lot of twists and turns right up until the end and I liked that and helped me too keep reading. I didn’t like Jim’s character very well when all was said and done. So this story wasn’t for me.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a fast paced, complex mystery/crime novel. The characters are intriguing and the plot is exciting. I have read all of the books in the Nan Vining series and have loved them all. Looking forward to more.

I’m kind of partial to procedurals with “plucky” heroines (think Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, French’s Antoinette Conway or Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone. So, when I read that Dianne Emley had a new book, Lying Blind, featuring the recurring character Detective Nan Vining (a character I had never encountered) and that the new book was described as a “hard-edged thriller for fans of Patricia Cornwell, Tana French, and Lisa Gardner,” I was ready to meet Nan!


How have I missed this series? Emley’s previous Nan Vining books include The First Cut, Cut to the Quick, The Deepest Cut, Love Kills, and Killing Secrets. In this latest in the series, Pasadena, CA’s Homicide detective Nan Vining gets involved in a murder case and arrives at a mansion where a beautiful young woman is floating face down in the infinity pool. Nan is curious as to why her boyfriend, Sergeant Jim Kissick has arrived on the scene first. Why did the homeowner contact Jim first (via text), before placing the 911 call that brought Nan to the scene?

Jim’s explanation is that he is old friends with the homeowners, Teddy and Rebecca Sexton. Nan begins to investigate, and becomes certain that the three of them are all hiding something. Meanwhile, in Lake Nacimiento (near Paso Robles, CA) a body is discovered, and that investigation brings detectives from that jurisdiction south. Soon the two crimes are intertwined and Nan feels like her relationship with Jim is falling apart.

Nan is a great character, the story is well plotted, and I enjoyed it a great deal. While there are some references to past experiences for Nan and Jim, I didn’t feel like I should have read the previous books in order to follow this one (although I plan to read earlier books in this series and hope I won’t get the “oh crap, I should have read this one first! Now I know what happens to these people!” feeling). There was a slight convenience to the resolution, meaning a tiny bit less of a rating, but overall I really enjoyed this!

Other fans of plucky heroines will enjoy this, as will people who enjoyed T. Jefferson Parker’s earlier books set in Southern California. (Everyone who has lived in Orange County seems to enjoy Parker’s early novels). Both Parker and Emley do a great job capturing the feel of SoCal, and I look forward to reading more by this author. Four enthusiastic stars, and thanks to Random House/Alibi and NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

When I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I hadn't realized that it was one of a series. Hoping for the best, I dove into the book because the synopsis caught my attention.

Nan Vining is a police detective who finds herself on the scene of a murder, where her boyfriend, fellow officer, Jim Kissick knows the homeowners from years ago. Nan senses that he knows them better than he lets on but he lies to her face. This case begins to tangle itself up with another case over in Lake Nacimento, where a body has been found submerged in the lake and that victim was also known to...you guessed it, Jim and the homeowners.

Dianne Emley is a wonderfully descriptive author, I could easily imagine myself in the middle of her book, in any of the scenes, and just be standing on the sidelines. This is a double edged sword though. I was so annoyed (perhaps irrationaly so) by how OVERLY deseriptive she was about everything. I started highlighting them so I could reference in my review but then it became too much. Once Nan could tell Jim was lying because she could see the amber flecks in Jim's eyes turn gold, while he was being interrogated and she was on the OTHER side of the two way mirror and across a room, I was done. That level of over detail was throughout the book and distracted me.

I still give this 4 stars though, I really enjoyed the story line, and while the characters didn't really evolve or grow within this story, I'm curious to see what happens next for them.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1885551364

I received a free copy from NetGalley. I walked into the middle of a series on this one. As a result there was definitely some back story on the characters that was missing as a result of starting on book six. I thought there was little mystery to the main story. Instead I was just waiting to see how they could prove it and arrest the guilty person. Not a favorite, but I won't avoid the others in the series either.

I really enjoyed this book: the story was intriguing, but the characters were fantastic. I had not read this author before so was unacquainted with Nan Vining and did not know her back story. The complicated relationships tangle and fall back on one another; the past intruding painfully on the present.

The carefully painted pictures of the present don't bear up under pressure and inspection; the houses of cards all tumble down.

Those aching moments of realization when something is either what they hoped for most or feared most are so well drawn they were palpable. The joy of having things finally fall into place only to be broadsided was a running theme throughout.

The resolution was both satisfying and poignant. Sad, as always but parts were pretty gratifying.

I really look forward to catching up and reading more, her writing was a pleasure to read.

This is a well written book. There are a couple things I didn't particularly like; the identity of Jane Doe, the way things were left between Nan and Jim, and maybe how deep the plot ended up going. But those are the author's choice and as I said, this is a good story and it is good writing. I would recommend this book.

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Dianne Emley, and Random House Publishing Group - Alibi in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all, for sharing your hard work with me.

This was a good police procedural, one of a series but stand alone, peopled with empathetic folks that you can immediately feel comfortable with. Nan Vining is a good cop, a thoughtful mom, a loyal friend. Jim is a man who has suffered much but is still that cop you want to have your back. They have their work cut out for them, teasing out this 25 year old mystery that changed the lives of all who lived it, that nightmare night at Lake Nacimiento.

The pacing on this novel is excellent, it's location central California, a fast read that is hard to put down. I am pleased to have found Dianne Emley. She is an author I will follow.

I have never yet been disappointed with an Alibi book and this is no exception! Nan is a homicide detective and her long time boyfriend, Jim, is a police sergeant. Nan responds to a homicide scene and Jim shows up having been called by the householders where the murdered woman was found. Teddy and Becca, the householders, were friends of Jim, although contact was lost quite some time ago. Subsequently, Nan discovers Jim previously had a relationship with Becca and in fact was engaged to him. It soon becomes obvious that Jim is too close to the case and is nearly a suspect who still has feelings for Becca. Jim tells Nan they need a break from their relationship. The story line is great with a murder mystery to solve and also relationship issues to unravel.

This is the second Nan Vining mystery I have read. Although I didn’t like it as much as the first one I read, it captured my attention and I didn’t want to put it down until I had finished. There were a few times when it seemed it was trying to cross over into a romance novel, and, for me, that took away from the story. Although, without revealing any spoilers, I was glad that Nan has another option! Yes, you might not like some of the characters, but, afterall, they are the “bad guys.” The sixth in the series, it is not necessary to have read the prior ones, although they would certainly add to the main character’s background.

Jumping into a series after it's been up and running can be somewhat risky, but when I got the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review, this one sounded so good that I threw caution to the wind and agreed. And happily, even though this is the sixth book featuring homicide detective Nan Vining, it stands well enough on its own that I never felt at a disadvantage.

The rather complicated story, which has a bundle of characters to keep straight, begins with the discovery of a naked and very dead woman in the swimming pool of a very wealthy couple in Pasadena, Calif. The self-absorbed husband, Teddy Sexton, is blind; to get around, he has help from an amazing guide dog and a drop-dead gorgeous wife, Rebecca - who bears an uncanny resemblance to the younger dead woman. The situation takes a strange turn, though, when the owners first contact Nan's former partner and current main squeeze, Jim Kissick, instead of calling 911. Jim claims that's because he's an old friend of the couple, but Nan begins to suspect the relationship between Jim and Teddy's wife Rebecca goes well beyond "just friends."

It was at that point, I'm afraid, that Nan dropped several notches on my likability scale. Despite her long-time relationship with Jim - they've been thinking about marriage, for gosh sake - the second Nan learns that Jim and Rebecca at one time (and a very short one at that) were a couple and - horror of horrors - he never told her, she concludes that their entire relationship has been based on a sham. I agree it would have been nice of him to tell her, but I simply can't relate to someone who would ditch an entire relationship over something that happened that long ago. Their breakup never got in the way of her competence as a homicide detective, though, so I'm willing to give her extra points for that.

Not long after the as-yet-unidentified woman is found, another dead woman turns up - this time at a lake in Central California after a lengthy drought lowered the water level. Nan is surprised once again when Jim, Teddy and Rebecca are brought in for questioning; it seems they all knew this dead woman many years ago. And when the dead woman in Pasadena is identified, it appears that the two cases somehow are connected with Jim smack dab in the middle - and Nan starts to believe that any future she may have had with him is history.

At that point, the investigation really heats up, both from Nan's end in Pasadena and that of two detectives (one of them a hunka-hunka) who are in charge of the Central California case. As details of both events begin to come together, it got so interesting that I stayed glued to my Kindle Fire till the whole thing was resolved (well, one thing wasn't, but no doubt that will be fodder for the next installment).

Know what? I'm in!