Heidi Glick. Hold for Release. White Rose Publishing, 2023.

Hold for Release begins with a bloody mess. Carlotta Hartman volunteers at a local animal shelter. She has arrived for the evening shift to discover the director of the animal shelter, Ed, murdered and six dogs with slit throats. She calls the police, but she is reluctant to call her husband, Jake.

Their marriage is on the rocks. She has been undergoing fertility treatments for a few years without any success. This frustrates her. Meanwhile Jake seems consumed with his job as a reporter for the local newspaper. Jake had a one night fling with an attractive young staffer Allison. He was inebriated and remembers little of what happened, but Allison is now threatening to accuse him of sexual harassment.

We really have two or three different plots going in the novel. All three are done realistically and effectively. It looks like Jake will be losing his job. It looks their marriage will be breaking up, especially as Carlotta meets a kind and understanding divorce lawyer. Jake, Carlotta, and the local police for different reasons are all interested in finding out who murdered Ed.

There appear to be a couple of related incidents going on in town as well. As Jake researches news files, he sees a pattern similar to that of serial killer in the area from twenty years ago. And what about some dog walkers complaining about a masked stalker?

In contrast to the Hartmans’ marriage, Carlotta has a sister who was divorced from her husband when he was imprisoned for selling drugs. Now her husband has claimed to have found God and been rehabilitated and wants to get back with her and their son. We see two relationships headed in different directions.

There are a number of potential suspects in the murder. Was it someone who did not like Ed? Everyone seems to have liked him. Was it an animal rights radical? Why then would the dogs be killed? Was it someone after Carlotta or someone else at the shelter?

Carlotta is a librarian, and one patron has been trying to flirt with her, even perhaps to the point of harassment. Did he arrange to have a library elevator stop between floors with just the two of them in it?

Is Jake in his investigations getting too close? Will he lose his job because of Allison’s accusations? Is Carlotta’s sister’s ex-husband for real?

While the list of suspects grows, at a certain point, it becomes fairly clear to the reader who is behind Ed’s murder and some of the other strange goings-on. Dramatic irony takes over, as if to say as the audience of a horror movie might, “Don’t go into that abandoned farmhouse!” Will Jake, Carlotta, and the police see what is going on in time? Things get intense as the drama grows.

With the combination of suspense and family drama, Hold for Release reminded this reader of works by Danielle Steele. Readers who like her should get a kick out of Hold for Release.