Semblance of Guilt

Ellen Davis is trying to make some sense of her life as a newly-divorced woman when she is tasked with interviewing Graham and Sophia Clarke for her job at the newspaper. She quickly becomes friends with Sophia, but it isn’t long before Sophia is found murdered and Ellen was the last one to see her alive. All the evidence points to her and to everyone, even her closest friends, she has the Semblance of Guilt. The only person who sticks by her is Detective Pete Sakura, but because of their feelings for each other, he cannot be on the case. So Ellen decides to take matters into her own hands and discover what really happened to her friend.

Even though this book is classified as a mystery, I would say it is more of a romance with a murder case thrown in. A lot more time is spent on Ellen and Pete’s relationship and encounters than on the actual case, or at least that is how it felt to me. Semblance of Guilt is comparable to a Danielle Steel novel, in my opinion. For me personally, that is not what I am looking for in a mystery, but I think Danielle Steel fans will find this enjoyable.

I think Claudia Riess did a great job of probing the depths of Pete Sakura and what makes him the kind of man he is. However, I don’t think she put as much effort into developing Ellen’s character other than classifying her as a divorced woman as if that explains everything about her. It seemed like there was even more effort into explaining why the killer was the way they were. A lot of time was spent on their motivations and upbringing, but almost none at all to Ellen’s. I would have also liked to learn more about Sophia, but she wasn’t in the story very long.

Overall, a bit risqué and romantic for my tastes, but I think there is definitely a particular group of readers who will enjoy this book.