Book Review: Liar’s Point: The Texas Murder Files by Laura Griffin

The Texas Murder Files series has come full circle. Hidden (2020) introduced us to Austin investigative reporter Bailey Rhoads and detective Jacob Merritt. From the police scanner, Bailey gets wind of a murder—she comes to believe it was an assassination. The protagonists are on opposite sides of the fence, but ultimately, they work together to solve the crime. And fall in love—because Laura Griffin is the queen of romantic suspense. 

Flight (2021) is the first Texas Murder Files story to be set on the fictional island of Lost Beach. Miranda Rhoads, Bailey’s sister, had a successful career as a forensic photographer, until she didn’t, hence her decision to relocate and become a wildlife photographer. She discovers a couple sleeping in a canoe; unfortunately, closer notice shows they’ve been murdered. Lost Beach detective Joel Breda works with Miranda to uncover the killer and they become close professionally and personally. 

Miranda Rhoads’s life was turned upside and she escaped to Lost Beach. The heroine of Midnight Dunes (2022) has a similar backstory. A scandal upended Macey Burn’s television reporting career so she turned to her “first passion, documentary filmmaking,” in Lost Beach. Laura Griffin’s characters in the Texas Murder Files series often have parallel experiences. A woman is found dead in the sand dunes, and coincidentally, Macey is renting the woman’s apartment. Local detective Owen Breda is desperate to stem the Lost Beach crime wave. He and Macey work together to solve the crime and fall in love. 

Griffin mixes up the formula in Deep Tide (2023). Barista owner and budding caterer Leyla Breda, sister to Joel and Owen, is not in law enforcement. She has a regular life, thank you very much, with one cast-iron rule: don’t date out-of-towners. Until she meets Sean Moran, who claims to be just another tourist, but the sister of two detectives spots his ankle holster straight off.  Sean’s working undercover for the FBI. The villain is a soulless tech villain out of central casting. Sean and Leyla agree that she will get inside the villain’s fortress via a catering contract: it’s a decision made by equals.

This brings us to Liar’s Point (2024), the last Texas Murder File mystery. Two homicide detectives, Detective Nicole Lawson and her superior, Detective Emmet Davis, work together to solve the mystery of a body at Lighthouse Point. Emmet is Nicole’s professional rival as well as the person who has intrigued her romantically for years. Nicole’s dating life is mostly a flat-line—she’s less than pleased when she’s called back to work when she’s on her first date in months. 

Is it the murders at Lost Beach over the past months that make all the locals a little nervous? Particularly single women in isolated venues, like yoga instructor Cassandra Miller? She’s finished a two-mile loop on the beach and she’s cooling down by walking slowly. Cassandra zeroes in on every detail of her surroundings, noticing a dad and his son playing with their dog, flying their remote-controlled airplane—normal fun activities. Her nervousness rises after the family group leaves: “Cassandra spied the solitary blue car again. Something about it needled her. She glanced around. Still no shell seekers or fishermen, and she gazed out at the churning surf.” The light is starting to fade but the blue car has a powerful hold on Cassandra.

Cassandra veered toward the car, unable to stay away. Jogging toward it, she studied the tinted windows, the dinged door. She caught sight of something hanging from the rearview mirror, and her heart lurched. A dream catcher. A small white feather dangled from the loop.

 

She jogged straight up to the door and looked through the window. Someone was asleep in the front seat. Long brown hair, pale arms.

 

Cassandra’s breath caught, and her stomach did a somersault. Panic gripped her as she noticed the flies.

Here we go again: two dead bodies, seemingly asleep in a canoe (Flight) and now a sleeping corpse in a remote car. It’s all-hands-on-deck at police headquarters. Who is the dead woman? Did she commit suicide? Was it a drug overdose? Cassandra is very affected by the woman’s death, particularly after the police announced, “We’re investigating this as a homicide.”

Nicole is in an awkward place from the onset of the investigation. Emmet is “calling the shots,” understandably since he’s her superior, but…the sexual tension between them is rising. Awkward. And Nicole, who’s been charged with tracking down leads, feels like her ideas are discounted. Nicole believes Cassandra “knows more than she’s revealing and may even hold the key to unlocking the case,” but her colleagues aren’t buying it. A woman’s intuition is not taught at the police academy. Then another dead body. Spoilers ahead. 

A lawyer visits Lost Beach police headquarters.

Alex cleared his throat and scooted his chair forward. “Our intent was for Ms. Miller to give you a statement.”

 

“About what?”

 

“In her absence, I can’t get into too much detail,” Alex said. “But I can tell you she believes that both crimes may somehow be connected to her estranged husband.”

 

“Malcolm McVoy,” Emmet said.

 

Brady looked at him. “Who?”

 

“Cassandra’s husband.” Emmet shook his head. “I can’t believe it. Nicole totally called it.”

 

“What does Nicole have to do with this?” Owen asked. “I thought she was on leave?”

 

“She is.”

What a dust-up and turn-around. Nicole was right, her colleagues were wrong—can this investigation be saved? Will Nicole and Emmet find their way to each other? Read Liar’s Point and the books leading up to it. It’s guaranteed romantic suspense at its finest.