3 Top Reasons I Absolutely Loved The Green Dress

A few weeks ago on the Because Fiction Podcast, I discussed the True Colors Crime Series from Barbour Publishing. If you want to listen to what I had to say about it on there, I embeded the player below, and it starts at about 25:48.  The blog post is HERE.

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3 Top Reasons I Absolutely Loved The Green Dress

Whew.  This won’t be easy.  But I’m going to do it.  So here goes.

1. Nail-biting suspense.

Seriously, she nailed the pacing of The Green Dress. I really think Liz’s best work comes in suspense, and you see it in certain parts of her WWII books and in these true crime novels.  This one, in particular, is her best work yet. I was so impressed and so eager to turn that page, that I read it… FAST.  And then some sections I reread again right away.   One of the biggest strengths of the suspense in this book is that you know what’s coming.  You know every bit of it.  This is suspense, not mystery.  You know who did what and how (although she doesn’t come right out and say it) and that gut-knowing is what keeps you riveted and screaming, “No! Don’t! NO!!!”

2. Multi-layered plot

Don’t mistake the simplicity of this story for it being simplisTIC.  It is not.  Instead, Liz layered the story at perfect intervals so that instead of knowing all and just seeing it unfold, you know what you know… and then learn some more, that reinforces what you knew and tells you what you’ll discover next.  As simple as it is (bad guy hurts people for selfish gain), it is also deeply complex.

3. Romance that didn’t make me squirm.

Okay, so Liz is much more effusive in her romance than I will ever be.  It seriously takes everything out of me to do romance, while she has characters who dance across the page with declarations of love worthy of Rogers and Hammerstein.  And her readers love it.  So, seeing the quiet reserve she gives the romance in this book (remember, compared to her others!) made the story richer for me.  This fit the characters.  What might have felt “over the top” in other books just feels reasonable and normal in this book. She kept it for situations it felt realistic and understandable.

Bonus reason that I loved The Green Dress?  Because she nailed one theological issue that usually I want to throw the book when I see.  YAY LIZ!

Barbour gave me an advance reading copy. I chose to review it and am so very glad I did.