Into the Fire

Dani Pettrey's second novel in her Chesapeake Valor Series, Still Life presents a talented photographer (Avery) who takes crime scene photos, the private Crime Scene Investigator (Parker) for whom she once worked, and a young, talented but psychopathic photographer whose obsession with Avery's troubled friend (Skylar) makes him the prime suspect when Skylar disappears on one of the biggest nights of her modeling career.   

A well known boorish photographer (Gerard) is holding an exhibit at an art gallery having chosen the infamous and brutal cold case known as The Black Dahlia Murder for the subject of his event. To his ranting displeasure he discovers one of the photographs in his prominent collection is not his and he demands to know who put it there. Avery attends the event because Skylar asked her to come, proud of her great moment as the subject of the photographs – even the one that's not supposed to be displayed. In Avery's opinion the "outlaw" photograph is clearly the best of the bunch but also haunting in its portrayal of the death with Skylar very much looking the part.

Avery can't find her friend and inquires as to her whereabouts. Gerard is upset because she isn't there yet. Avery knows Skylar would never have missed this showing, and Avery fears the worst and knows the best person to help her is Parker, the man she loves but who has never gotten over the unsolved murder of his first love years ago. (This is the only part of the story which seemed slightly off to me. His first love was only 17 when she was killed. He's considerably more mature now. I can see him still feeling the loss and wanting to find a way to solve that murder, but denying his adult feelings for Avery after "growing up" just seemed somewhat odd. Just my opinion.)

Still Life is a quick suspenseful read involving a heroine who is dominated by her past in spite of her Christian knowledge of being forgiven. She wants to be loved by a man who clings to his past love and struggles with surrendering to his present emotions. In the heat of the search for Skylar, Avery is flung directly back to the ugliness and guilt of that past where she influenced Skylar's involvement but couldn't seem to maintain that influence when Avery found Jesus. The other characters complement the story but also set up the novels to follow in this series.

Father, please continue to bless the life and writing of Dani Pettrey, filling her with the stories you have just for her to tell. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.