Read Your Writes Book Reviews: Review ~ OUTSIDE THE LINES by Sheila Lowe

Outside the Lines (A Forensic Handwriting Mystery, #6)

by: Sheila Lowe

Series: Forensic Handwriting Mystery

Genre: Mystery Suspense

Release Date: August 9, 2016

Publisher: Suspense Publishing

What should have been a routine afternoon on the witness stand for Forensic Handwriting Expert Claudia Rose turns into a shocking assault that leaves her bruised and bloodied. Following on the heels of a series of other traumatic events, the attack sends Claudia to the brink of a breakdown.

Her fiancé, L.A.P.D. Homicide Detective Joel Jovanic, learns of the attack while leading a homicide investigation into a mailbox bomb. An innocent housekeeper in the tony Venice neighborhood is dead and the homeowner is the CEO of a major pesticide-producing corporation that has been targeted in the past. When a notebook found in a geocache near the crime scene leads to the protest group People for Safe Food, Jovanic needs Claudia to identify the handwriting of a suspected eco-terrorist.

Though she may have recovered physically from the assault, weeks later Claudia’s fears continue to plague her. Desperate to get away, she accepts an invitation to lecture in the UK, but her trip turns into a nightmare when she runs afoul of both the FBI and New Scotland Yard. Jovanic’s homicide case has followed her to London where she finds herself unexpectedly allied with the chief suspect.

REVIEW

Outside the Lines is the third book that I have read by Sheila Lowe. And this is the second one that I have read featuring Forensic Handwriting Expert Claudia Rose and her Homicide Detective Boyfriend Joel Jovanich. I was not disappointed by the action and suspense that always seems to occur when this couple is involved.

In Outside the Lines a housekeeper dies when she goes to the mailbox and it blows up in her face. The investigation ends up pointing in the direction of an Eco-Terrorist group looking to expose a company called Agrichem that manufactures pesticides. At the same time, Claudia gets attacked while testifying in court on a different matter. Of course, Claudia ends up assisting Jovanich on his case while she is licking her wounds. For as much as I like Claudia, she can't help but get herself too involved in the most dangerous of cases. The fact that she doesn't seem to learn from her mistakes, drives me crazy and sometimes takes away from the realism of the book. I do appreciate the fact that the mystery was challenging to figure out and the culprits weren't obvious.

Sheila Lowe has written another great suspense novel. She also weaves in enough details regarding Claudia and Jovanich for the reader to be interested in their future together which helps to keep them relatable. Otherwise, I would surely get tired of yelling at Claudia and some of her bad decision making.

**Received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest unbiased review.**

Rating: 4