Present Danger by Elizabeth Goddard

 Jack Tanner is former FBI but is now working as a detective in Montana.  Terra Connors is a US Forest Service special agent.  When a dead body is found in a national forest the two, who are estranged high school sweethearts, find themselves working together on the case.  The investigation leads to artifact trafficking, more bodies, and danger close to home for Terra.  Her danger triggers protective feelings in Jack and the beginnings of hope that, even though Jack and Terra have a difficult past, maybe they could have some kind of future together.

I chose this book because it had an intriguing genre description; murder mystery Christian romance.  It turned out to be mostly a murder mystery romance, with only a few token Christian elements, like prayers during life threatening moments.  I would say it was a B level read overall.  The dialog was a little stilted, though may have been accentuated by the recorded book reader.  Her reading style was a little stiff.  Still, it began to bug me that every time they talked about a car, they said "vehicle" instead of car.  Every. Single. Time.  I get it that they are supposed to be law enforcement talking in police jargon, but really?  Also, even though this is the first book in a series, I kept thinking, "did I miss a prequel?"  There is a lot of back story, and it was rolled out so slowly that I kept feeling like I had missed something. 

Ok, my commentary sounds harsh.  It really wasn't bad.  On the positive side, it was very clean and I don't think there was any swearing. I enjoyed it enough that I finished the whole 11 hours of the recorded book without turning the playback speed up to 1.25. Still, I am not really planning on reading the rest in the series. (394 p. 2021)