PROTECTION DETAIL – Shirlee McCoy
Capitol K-9 Unit , Book 1
Harlequin Love Inspired
ISBN: 978-0-373-44654-4
March 2015
Inspirational Romantic Suspense

Present Day Washington, D.C.

When a senator's son was shot and killed and the senator wounded in front of his home in an upscale neighborhood, the Capitol K-9 Unit under Captain Gavin McCord was called in to assist the DC police. Senator Jeffries had been a mentor to Gavin, and his son, Michael, had been a good man. Gavin and his K-9 companion, Glory, set out to find the shooter. Meanwhile the DC police had been called to another disturbance next door at the group foster home called All Our Kids that the senator had had a hand in establishing.

Cassie Danvers has been the house mom for the last three years. Along with one assistant, she mothers eight youngsters ranging from Juan, the toddler, to thirteen year-old Destiny. On the night of the murder, she heard noises and got up to see which one of the kids had snuck out after dark. She opened the back door to face a burly stranger with cold, dead-looking blue eyes. She screamed to alert her assistant and ran out into the woods to lure the man away from her kids—her first instinct is always to protect her charges no matter the cost to herself. Her assistant called in the DC police when she heard Cassie's scream.

Meanwhile, a child's mitten had been found and Gavin and Glory were on the trail through the woods when they came upon a shivering Cassie up a tree. It soon becomes obvious that there is a mad man on the loose and that Cassie and the foster kids are in danger. But is he the only one?

Senator Jeffries and the foster home mean a lot to Gavin—in fact, he spent his last two years of high school in the home. He's also volunteered time at All Our Kids and knows Cassie a little. Now, as captain of the K-9 unit, he gathers his troops to post guards and help solve the crimes.

PROTECTION DETAIL is non-stop suspense; it's a good thing it's just a little over 200 pages or it would have been an all-nighter. It has a large cast of likable characters. One's heart must go out to the kids and to Cassie and Gavin, who were foster kids themselves. The plot is complex, and though the book's conclusion is a satisfying one, a few threads will need tying up in future books. We have five more of the Capitol K-9 Unit series to look forward to, with five different authors. The books are going to be released in succeeding months from now until the last one in August. (I've already expressed a wish to review them all.)

Jane Bowers