My Sister's Grave (Tracy Crosswhite Book 1)

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Robert Dugoni’s My Sister’s Grave, follows Tracy Crosswhite as she puts to rest the case of her sister’s disappearance some twenty years after the fact. Through her efforts, the improper conviction of Edmund House is overturned and appropriate justice enacted upon the person who had abducted, raped and killed Sarah Crosswhite, Tracy’s sister, in the early 1990s. Along the way, the small town of Cedar Grove, Washington, is afforded final closure, and Tracy is able to set aside a decades-long obsession and live in the present once again.

The ending. To be frank. I'm not sure that I really liked it, I saw it as a possibility that it could end something like this. And, it just didn't seem that surprising when the book ended it the way I suspected it would. I like my mystery/thrillers smart and aboveboard with no eyerolling adventures that take you in an illogical free-fall off a deluded cliff. You all know what I'm talking about. There’s a romantic thread when Tracy reunites with a childhood friend, and there’s extreme weather to contend with as the winter blizzards close the roads and cut off power and communications. Detective Tracy Crosswhite,42 years old, from the Seattle homicide, lost her younger sister Sarah, over twenty years ago, when she disappeared and feels somewhat responsible. The sisters had been involved in the sport of shooting, and after a championship, Sarah, was kidnapped and murdered, her body was never found. A local man on parole for rape, was arrested and convicted of the crime. Tracy never believed he was the real killer. New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni’s thrilling series continues as Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite is plunged into a case of family secrets and murder…The story: Tracy Crosswhite is a Chicago detective, good at her job but haunted by personal demons (and that sounds like a thousand other stories out there, I know, but this gets interesting really fast). Her sister disappeared twenty years ago, her body never discovered, but somebody got caught and was sentenced to life in prison for the murder.

Lead detective of the original task force, Nolasco dares Tracy to do what he failed to: close the case. Forming an uneasy alliance, Tracy and Nolasco revisit old leads and pursue new evidence only to unearth high-level corruption and cover-ups as dangerous as the elusive killer himself. At the risk of being exposed, such deadly and powerful forces will go to extremes to stay in the shadows. When Sarah disappeared, Tracy Crosswhite was a high school chemistry teacher. Three years later, Tracy is divorced from a man who wouldn’t or couldn’t give her time to work out her grief and self-imposed guilt. She is estranged from a mother who blames her for leaving Sarah alone. And her physician father has abandoned her also, having spiraled into the swirling pit of grief, alcoholism and self-termination. Returning from an extended leave in her hometown of Cedar Grove, Detective Tracy Crosswhite finds herself reassigned to the Seattle PD’s cold case unit. As the protective mother of an infant daughter, Tracy is immediately drawn to her first file: the abduction of a five-year-old girl whose parents, embattled in a poisonous divorce, were once prime suspects. This book has been sitting in my TBR pile for a long time, but finally made it to the top of the heap. This is a pleasure read for me and I am so glad I finally got to enjoy it.As My Sister’s Grave opens, Tracy is 42 years old and a Homicide Detective. Tracy decided to become a law enforcement officer after her sister Sarah disappeared twenty years previously and was never found. Tracy’s ultimate goal is to find out what happened to Sarah and bring justice to her sister. There is an unexpected break in the very cold case, and Tracy is determined to find out once and for all who is responsible for her sister’s disappearance. It takes two things to make a great book (OK, that's oversimplified, but bear with me a sec): Being able to tell a good story, and being able to write well. This book has a pretty good grasp on the first part, but utterly fails on the second. It’s very readable and straightforward, and I did want to see what was going to happen. When the narrative slowed down, I began skimming (not a good sign), but I was still interested. Then, as the results of Tracy’s investigations came to light, the story took a macabre turn and an ending that was too far-fetched for me. Tracy Crosswhite makes a very engaging protagonist and the story moves at such a fast clip that it's almost impossible to put the book down once it gets rolling. The characters here were all, for the most part (aside from the "bad guys") really likable and believable. There really isn't any wasted time on superfluous red herrings but I still felt myself questioning everything as the story was laid out. There is a lot of subtlety here and it was a nice break from the 'in your face-ness' that happens a lot in this genre.

My Sister's Grave introduces Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite. Twenty years earlier, her younger sister, Sarah, who was then eighteen, disappeared after the two had participated in a shooting competition. As Tracy went off to dinner with her boyfriend, Sarah left to drive home in the rain and was never seen again. Every turn that Tracy and Dan make, they find more secrets and someone starts threatening their lives. I mean you have to have that right? In the years since her sister disappeared, Tracy quits her teaching job, moved to Seattle, and became a homicide detective, while working on her sister’s case whenever possible. Tracy never bought into the theory that the man accused of killing her sister was guilty. Now that Sarah’s body has been found, Tracy hires her childhood friend, Dan, to help her prove the wrong man was convicted. But, the local sheriff pulls out all the stops to make sure a new trial never takes place. Was there a conspiracy? Who really killed Sarah and how will Tracy manage to prove it?

This was such a juxtaposition of formulaic and fresh for me it's hard to put into words. As I mentioned, I've never really felt the true formula of mystery novels until My Sister's Grave. At times I was painfully aware of the equation and it made it impossible to ignore and engross myself. However, despite this I found myself surprised and delighted by the twists and turns of this story. Tracy's sister Sarah disappeared 20 years ago and Edmund House, a convicted rapist is accused and jailed for the murder, despite that they never found the body. But Tracy never believed that Edmund was the real killer. Now Sarah's body is finally discovered and Tracy sets out to find the real killer. But it seems that there are people out there that don't want her to know the truth... The guy that’s in jail for Sarah’s murder is indeed, a seriously bad dude – he’d been in jail before for abduction and rape. Everybody seems content to leave him there and leave well enough alone. But – and this is Tracy's but – if he was framed somehow, then who is actually responsible? Someone who’s still at large, still a threat? Her parents are no longer alive, but the same Sheriff and others involved in the original investigation and manhunt are still around, and she questions them all. I enjoyed Tracy sharing memories of her sister, learning how much they loved each other. Tracy never gave up looking for his sister and was very determined to learn the truth of what happened to her.

I thought the book was good! There are a lot of twists and turns for sure! And I didn't even pay attention that this is the first book so I'm guessing this is a series! Yay! I like Tracy Crosswhite's character. The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Dugoni, Robert. My Sister’s Grave. Thomas & Mercer, November 1, 2014. Kindle. When Sarah's remains are finally discovered near their hometown in the northern Cascade mountains of Washington State, Tracy is determined to get the answers she s been seeking. As she searches for the real killer, she unearths dark, long-kept secrets that will forever change her relationship to her past and open the door to deadly danger. A couple of things bugged me here. One, from the beginning, Dugoni intersperses chapters where old Cascade County townsfolk are conspiring to cover up the murder. The act of doing this puts the audience ahead of Tracy. So we know more than she does. Murder, mystery, justice, and suspense take center stage in Robert Dugoni’s first book in the Tracy Crosswhite series: My Sister’s Grave. It’s been twenty years since Tracy’s younger sister Sarah disappeared and the murder trial that followed it. However, Tracy doesn’t believe, the man convicted of Sarah’s murder, Edmund House, is guilty. She wants real justice and has dedicated her life to finding killers by becoming a homicide detective with the Seattle police department. When Sarah’s remains are found near their hometown of Cedar Grove, Washington, Tracy is determined to get answers, but gets more than she expected.

Robert Dugoni

The two sisters had been best of friends and Tracy has never forgiven herself for allowing Sarah to drive home alone. Twenty years later, the pain is still sharp and ultimately led Tracy to give up her career as a teacher to become a homicide detective. This is an easy book to fly through. The plot, though pretty straightforward, held my interest throughout, though there are some slower spots during the first third of the story. Once the story gets rolling there is plenty of suspense and some nifty little twists to relish. There is a bit of possible romance, which I never object to. Most importantly, I was fooled in the end, always a plus. There is more courtroom action than I expected, but I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed it. I must read more legal thrillers as I think I’ve been missing out. My interest in this series was peaked by two prequel short stories focused on Detective Tracy Crosswhite’s earlier days. I was really drawn to Tracy while reading The Academy, set during Tracy’s Police Academy days, and knew after reading Third Watch, set during her days as a beat cop in Seattle, that I wanted more of this detective. Though it’s not necessary to read the prequels before launching into the novels, Tracy’s early relationship with her future boss, Johnny Nolasco, is very entertainingly set forth in these shorts, especially The Academy, and both short stories are rated 5 stars by me. While reconstructing the days leading up to the girl’s disappearance, Tracy is brought into an active investigation with former partner Kinsington Rowe. A young woman has vanished on an isolated jogging trail in North Seattle. Divided between two critical cases, Tracy has little to go on except the treacherous deceptions behind a broken marriage—and now, the secrets hiding behind the closed doors of a deceptively quiet middle-class neighborhood.