Into the Fire

Absent Pity by Blake Pierce is Book 1 in the Amber Young Mystery Series.

Amber Young is the editor for the puzzle section of the newspaper where she works for a demanding and overbearing boss. She's gifted in both figuring out complex puzzles, ciphers, crosswords, and codes and in creating them. She's always careful to make her puzzles doable for her readers but not simplistic – even though they seem so to her. She's far more capable of making nearly unsolvable puzzles, but she takes it somewhat easy on those who participate on the puzzle page. 

Her home is filled with puzzles of all kinds, and they pretty much occupy her life. She's attracted to one of the reporters but too shy to let him know. She plays online chess with another puzzle guy who works for a competitor newspaper. 

When a ruthless killer sends what seems like unsolvable puzzles to the local police as a "hint" to where these individual victims are held, the FBI sends Agent Simon Phelps to help solve the case. When Amber sees what is posted, she calls on a help line to let them know they're not getting the puzzle correctly. She's invited in to help solve it.

This begins the clever and complex journey to saving the lives of women the "Puzzle Killer" has selected to set up in a torturous setting and left to die. Amber is quick to figure out his cipher and works at a frantic pace to try and avoid the obvious and sift through to the hidden clues to get to each one before they die.

Blake Pierce is always good for an intense mystery, and Absent Pity is no exception. If you like the mystery genre with a unique heroine who's truly a brilliant "puzzler", this will be an interesting and entertaining story for you. 

Father, thank you for the creativity you've given to us. You didn't have to share it, but your benevolence is never ending. Please continue to bless Blake with more stories for the many readers who love mysteries. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.