Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I have been in a reading slump for a while, and this was the first book I laid my hands on to try and break it, and I totally devoured it in one sitting, and couldn't wait to read number 2. The second one was even better, and now, having finished book number 4 in the series, I only have one question - why isn't there a book 5 yet???
The series features detective Kay Sharpe, and even though she is just human, she tries to be there for everyone, and solve every one's problems. The books were really well written, and honestly, I haven't read something so thrilling, gripping and entertaining in a very long time. This series is highly recommended, I promise you, just do it!

I will post this same review on all 4 books, as this is really applicable to all.

TB

Wow! Leslie Wolfe is absolutely kicking it with the latest Kay Sharp series. The plot may seem straightforward in the start but wait & watch! Those twists keep rolling in & you wont see them coming! Every chapter leaves you on edge making this sl book an absolute page turner! The characters are oh so complex! Kay has the knack to run head first at the sight of trouble and I understand where that comes from. Otherwise she's a kickass detective & Elliot & she make a dream team. It would be nice to see them lean on a few team members for work by way of adding supporting characters to get the whole picture. Right now its just this army of two driving head first into every case.
This is nonetheless a fantastic series with this book having a killer plot!
Thank you NetGalley, Bookouture & Leslie Wolfe for an arc!

This was a good follow up to the first in the series. It had a well paced plot that kept me reading on and looking forward to reading more from the author.

Reading Between the Wines book review #94/115 for 2021:
Rating: 4 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book 🎧: Beneath Black Water River
Author: Leslie Wolfe
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
RELEASED on April 23, 2021!!!

Sipping thoughts: Book 2 for Detective Kay Sharp was just as good if not even better than the first. I absolutely loved the nuggets of reveals that were dropped along the way to the ultimate reveal at the end. So many things happened in the book but it was not so much that the reader would be confused. The flashbacks from 30 years added such a great layer to the story. Watching Sharp try to identify the girl in the lake, figure out why she had a locket that did not belong to her AND try to find out why the initial body in the lake was misidentified made me flip the pages faster and faster. I cannot wait to read the 3rd installment, The Angel Creek Girls which was released in August.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley and @Bookouture for an advanced copy of @BeneathBlackWaterRiver.

#BeneathBlackWaterRiver #LeslieWolfe #Bookouture #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThriller

It started in an intriguing way which didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the book. It was a fairly easy read, a bit unsettling at times, and I wasn't desperate to see how it ended, but nonetheless a good thriller mystery.

Kay Sharp was a former special agent for the FBI and went back home to the small town of Mount Chester when her brother Jacob was having some problems. It was supposed to be a temporary thing, but Kay ended up getting a job as a detective in the small town. Her next case is that of a body of a teen girl that was found in Blackwater River.

As the story begins a young couple is at the River and they discover the body. Kay discovers that the girl was holding a locket. This locket proves familiar to Kay and she begins to search into a cold case of years previously. It just might be that this body and that of a missing girl of years ago are connected.

This raises a lot of questions. As this story progresses something happens that takes this delicate case into a different direction. As small as the town is - less than 4,000 residents - it shouldn't be that difficult for Kay to fit the pieces of this case together. Instead, she runs into more than one situation, a situation that places others in the community at great risk.

I love how this book was written! There is more than one storyline and point of view and I enjoyed sitting back and watching the events unfold. This book does touch on more than one sensitive issue, but it is handled quite well. For the sake of trigger warnings I will mention that kidnapping, rape, murder and spousal abuse are in this book.

If the reader enjoys twists and turns - and sharp ones at that - and want to be led to a riveting conclusion then this is the perfect book. The characters are excellent in this book and I love that Kay's brother Jacob held a significant role. One additional thing I will mention is that as the story is being told in third person perspective the killer also has a voice. This definitely brought me closer to an already fabulous book. Beneath Blackwater River is an excellent sophomore book in an already stunning series and now I am more than eager to see what the author has to offer as this series continues.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

I love this series. The plots are always fast paced with plenty of twists to keep you hooked. I had a few late nights with this as I didn't want to put it down.

Dr Kay Sharp is a great character and I can't wait to read more.

I did enjoy this book there is just a lot going on, although it is all tied up nicely and explained at the end. I also thought one of the twists was very obvious and it took the police way too long to work it out which made it a bit unrealistic. However, it’s a great fast-paced read and I wasn’t 100% sure who the bad guy was. I also loved the drama that the extremely wealthy and secretive Caldwell family brought to the story.

I also liked the chapters from runaway/missing teen Kirsten's POV. She was pretty badass and I just really felt for her.

Even though this is book 2 in the series and I haven’t read book 1 it didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything important. I will probably go back and read book 1 though because I enjoyed Kay’s character and want to get to know her more.

I received a copy of the ebook via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Book 2 I'm the Detective Kay Sharp as I usually say if you haven't read earlier books I highly recommend.

A girl is found in the lake floating ruining a perfect proposal as she is dead in the water. So when Detective Kay Sharp finds herself looking at at locket that was warn by a girl kidnapped 13 years prior. After the news is publicly released they find out that the girl is actually thr daughter of an influential man in the community. With that embarrassment Kay and her team are determined to find out who kill this girl and why she had the locket of a missing girl.


This is one of these books that is hard to review without spoiling the entire story. So will keep it brief.
Although I guessed the plot of the story there were still a few surprises that had me gasping and at one point crying. It was great because we have flashbacks throughput the book which help us get to the truth the flashbacks start 30 years prior and the more things develop the more we learn.

Detective Kay is great! Some have no faith in her but she's a great detective and has a point to prove A missing girl case is also running along side the murder case the bosses think its not connected but Kay is certain it is.
When Detective Kay finds out the girl is confirmed to not be the missing girl she decides to re open the kidnap case. There's so many mistakes made that she can't help but question why?.


So much happens in this book and its a whirlwind of a relationship its completely worth a read I really enjoyed reading it and doll on book 3. The prose it written in such a way that its a page turner!

Three main questions
Who murdered the girl in the lake?
Why did she have the locket?
What happened with the cold case file

Loved this as I do any crime thrillers recommend if you enjoy LIsa Regan, Katerina Diamond, MK Farrar or anyone similar then pick up the book and start with book 1! Easy 4 stats

Thanks to netgalley, Leslie Wolfe and the publishers for the digital advanced copy of beneath black river water in excess for my fair and honest opinions

Another brilliant installment of this fantastic series! Again I flew through this book and my heart was literally racing at the end! This time Kay and Elliot are investigating the murder of a young girl that is found behind a waterfall, the investigation turns their attention to a wealthy family that has lots of family secrets buried and someone is determined not to let these secrets be unearthed. The book is set at a good pace more or less getting into the story from the off which is always a good thing in my opinion. I have the next book in the series ready to go.

Oh my, this was quite intriguing when the body found was actually of a child who had gone missing a decade ago, but she was known to the locals in a different name. I liked how Kay had to work doubly hard to get to the root of it. There were many twists that shocked me. Quite entertaining.

Beneath Blackwater River by Leslie Wolfe is the second book in the Detective Kay Sharp series I was hooked again within the first few pages. This latest book is fast pace, very tense and full of shocking twists and turns throughout. which involves a murder, kidnapping, and long-held family secrets that led to a jaw-dropping conclusion. Oh boy! Leslie knows how to get you glued to a book! I love the way she writes and all her characters are great

When a body is found behind the falls of Blackwater River. She's found floating in the river wearing a neck chain. She is also wearing a locket that seems to be very familiar and the Medical Examiner recalls a case from 14 years earlier.
Rose was a toddler at the time when she was taken away.. never to be seen again.
This case has never been solved all those years ago......WoW.

I highly recommend this series especially If you love these kinds of books and are fans of Angela Marsons, Lisa Regan, Carol Wyer, Robert Dugoni, this is the series of books for you.

Big thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion.

Beneath Blackwater River is the second book in the detective Kay Sharp procedural series by Leslie Wolfe. Released 23rd April by Bookouture, it's 319 pages and is available in paperback, ebook, and audio formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.

This is a competently written ensemble procedural mystery with a strong female protagonist, rural setting, and unsolved child abduction cold case mystery from a decade-and-a-half ago. Although it's the second book in the series, it works very well as a standalone and I had no trouble at all keeping the characters straight or following the plot. The writing is solid, with well rendered and believable characters. The denouement and resolution were satisfying with some twists along the way which I hadn't foreseen.

There is some content which might be problematic for some readers including child abduction, neglect, failure of a caregiver, corruption, substance abuse, and murder. Language is R rated and about average for a modern procedural mystery.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I thought the first book in the series, Girl in the Silent Lake, was good but Beneath Black Water River is the best one yet.

The story begins with a proposal gone wrong. A young woman is excited about her proposal. She knows that her boyfriend is going to propose and plans her perfect ‘surprise face’. It is eerie just how similar my proposal was to hers. I knew it was coming after accidentally seeing the ring beforehand. I also knew that it was going to take place during a hike and had practiced my ‘surprise’ look. Luckily, that is where the similarities end. The proposal in this story took a morbid turn when a body floated by at the scenic waterfall just when the big question was popped.

This was another complex case that quickly became twisty following a wrong identification. I had so many answers just like the team of detectives. I like how there were about 4 cases intertwined, a cold case from fourteen years ago, a current case of a missing girl, a domestic abuse case and the murder case. It was intriguing and highly entertaining to see the detectives put everything together.

This was a good, captivating read. The twists and turn had my jaw dropping on every chapter.
Suspense, intrigue and plain good old detective work, this book definitely has everything that has me hooked on police procedural series.

Absolutely fantastic read. I have loved this and been completely unable and unwilling to put this one down.
This is a great read which I will be highly recommending.

AWESOME multi- plotted police procedural phycological thriller with great characterization of the devious mind of a mentally abused person who in turn becomes a twisted abuser. As a parent, the plot evokes disgust & anger how people treat & destroy their own flesh & blood. Well written with edge of your seat suspense until the bombshell conclusion, RECOMMEND absolutely & looking forward to more. Thanks to NetGalley & Bookouture for this ARC in return for my honest review.

A young couple find a body at the romantic beauty spot midway through a marriage proposal. The medical examiner confirms the woman's identity thorugh DNA as Rose Harrelson, a child who went missing over a decade earlier. But then another family claim the body is Alyssa Caldwell. Can Kay Sharp discover the true identity of the murdered woman and bring justice to her killer?
Beneath Blackwater River is the second book to feature Kay Sharp, a doctor and former FBI profiler who is now employed as a detective in her home town. I must also confess to loving the title and setting as I live near the River Blackwater in the UK! Thankfully our location seems less dangerous :)
The murder plot is compelling as an obvious ID of the victim is quickly discounted. This puts pressure on the team to find the truth in order to save the medical examiner from embarrassment at the potential damage through the discrediting of his professional opinion. As well as the murder plot, there is a secondary plotline of a teenage runaway. Kirsten has been picked up by a seemingly friendly person but is soon frightened by their behaviour.
In amongst all the crime investigations, Kay and Elliot Young have a frisson of attraction. This adds to their characters being more rounded and human as they try to negotiate their feelings for each other.
The whole book is written in the third person, with the majority showing Kay's perspective as she unpicks the strands of the various cases. However, there are some chapters which reveal Kirsten's experiences and those of her captor which raise the anticipation and fears for her safety. The writing itself was very engaging and made me feel connected to the characters.
Beneath Blackwater River was a hugely enjoyable police thriller and I can't wait for the next book.

Beneath Blackwater River by Leslie Wolfe is the 2nd book in the Detective Kay Sharp series, and my first book by this author. I have already purchased book one, The Girl from Silent Lake, and looking forward to reading it. Detective Kay Sharp vowed never to return to her home town of Mount Chester, but she is back. When a body of a seventeen-year-old girl is found, she is wearing a locket of a three-year-old girl, Rose, who went missing fourteen years ago. If the girl is Rose, where has she been? This book was a real roller coaster ride, so many twists and turns. If you enjoy a fast paced police procedural than I highly recommend this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A romantic proposal behind a waterfall descends into horror when instead of a yes a scream cuts through the air. I love how the author starts her books in this series, this is book two but can be read as a stand alone. Although personally book one The girl from Silent Lake was so damn good I would recommend you read that too. Plus you then get more of the character’s back stories as yet again we join Detective Kay Sharp, former FBI profiler and her partner Elliot.

This time we have the discovery of the body of a young girl, her body pinned down by a boulder and a small red locket on a sliver chain around her neck. With the locket and some DNA pointing to an old case but the body identified as someone else there’s more than one mystery to solve. With a prominent family involved and secrets being hidden this small town certainly has plenty going on.

Then add in a brilliant sub plot of investigating one of her new colleagues for domestic abuse and they have their work cut out. And so do we as readers, trying to work out the connections and solve the crimes of murder and kidnapping.

I love the partnership of Kay and Elliot, the chemistry between them sizzles off the page. However it’s the complexity of the plots that hold my interest, the author really knows how to hook you and keep you dangling as you struggle to work out the who and the why.

The pace ramping up as it leads to a dramatic finale where it all comes together. Already excited to see what book three will bring.