Murder at Tophouse by Clair Poulson

 Officer Mike Denton doesn't like his partner, Cal Granberg, and thinks that he is a crooked cop. When Mike gets suddenly called into the Chief's office and put on administrative leave, he suspects Cal has been telling lies about him.  He decided to go to New Zealand because he suspects that Cal has dirty dealings in that country.  On the plane he meets Skylie, who is a college grad student who is being stalked by a creepy man she has barely met. Mike's protective side comes out, and soon he is determined that Skylie and her kind step parents are all safe. It is harder than it sounds, and Mike begins to wonder if Cal's dirty dealings and Skylie's stalker problem are related.

Why do I keep reading Clair Poulson, when I know the writing will be only B level at best?  Because they are predictable, unambiguously moral, and the mystery plots aren't half bad. I also find it a bit amusing to see the male form of the wish fulfillment fantasies I see in most of my clean romances.  In Clair Poulson's books the men get to have more than one woman who think they are "oh so strong and handsome."  The woman he chooses is the one that is both brave and venerable--the one he gets to save and take care of, but which also shows a little spine and initiative of their own. Poulson worked as a sheriff and in other capacities in the criminal justice system, so he has a decent understanding of how a police case is investigated. So, I will probably keep reading Poulson books, even though every time I do I wish I could go in and clean up all the awkward dialog. (2015, 272 p)