New Release Review – Her Cold Justice by Robert Dugoni @robertdugoni #hercoldjustice

Posted on January 27, 2026 by fundinmental

MY REVIEW

I met Keera Duggan a couple of books ago, so I am very happy to see what she is up to in Her Cold Justice by Robert Dugoni. I am quick to become invested in the characters.

John Paul Harrison, Keera’s investigator, approaches her, asking her to defend his nephew. He is accused of a double homicide. The evidence is circumstantial and the further Keera gets in the trial, the more she senses that there is something very wrong. The danger rises, the deeper they dig. A conspiracy is exposed and there are those who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets from being brought to light.

Kim Tran is the prosecutor, known for winning her courtroom brawls, but Keera is no light weight. She calls Kim out when she tries to muddy the waters by playing fast and loose with the rules. Why does she seem to anticipate what Keera will do next? Is it really because she is just that good?

Robert Dugoni’s writing unravels the story smoothly, slowly, drawing me in. The suspense and a sense of anticipation build. Her Cold Justice is one part legal, one part police procedural and one part thriller. Sure to keep your mind working, Her Cold Justice is a wonderful addition to the Keera Duggan series. Each book can stand on its own, but I like to start at the beginning so I feel I can better relate to the characters.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos — 4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

To save a client accused of murder, defense attorney Keera Duggan must fight a complex web of corruption in a riveting novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

In a quiet South Seattle neighborhood, a suspected drug smuggler and his girlfriend are murdered in their home. When a young man named Michael Westbrook is accused of the brutal double homicide, his uncle JP Harrison turns to Keera Duggan to defend him. JP is Keera’s trusted investigator, and he desperately needs Keera to save his nephew against escalating odds.

The evidence is circumstantial—Michael worked with one of the victims, drugs were found in his possession, and he bolted from authorities. Ruthless star prosecutor Anh Tran has gotten convictions on much less. With the testimony of two prison informants, the case looks grave. But Keera never concedes defeat. To free her client, she must dig deep before Tran crushes both of them.

As the investigation gets more twisted with each new find, Keera is swept up in a mystery with far-reaching consequences. This case isn’t just murder. It’s looking like a conspiracy. And getting justice for Michael could be the most dangerous promise Keera has ever made.

Genre: Fiction, Legal, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
380 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication January 27, 2026 by Thomas & Mercer
Series: Keera Duggan #3

ABOUT ROBERT DUGONI

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, which has sold more than 11 million books worldwide. He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and The Keera Duggan legal thriller series. He has written several stand-alone novels including the historical novels A Killing on the Hill and Hold Strong, as well as the suspense novel The 7th Canon, and Damage Control. He has written the literary novels, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – one of Newsweek Magazine’s Best Books of All-Time and Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, for which Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award. He has also written the critically acclaimed novel, The World Played Chess; as well as the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. His novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and a four-time winner of the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has also been a finalist for many other awards including the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.

Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than thirty-five countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Visit his website at www.robertdugoni.com, and follow him on twitter @robertdugoni and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorRobertDugoni

MY ROBERT DUGONI REVIEWS

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Review – Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni @robertdugoni #herdeadlygame

Posted on October 21, 2025 by fundinmental

Amazon / KindleUnlimited / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

I love a good start to a book, and Robert Dugoni’s Prologue for Her Deadly Game had me hooked from the opening page.

Keera Duggan is a prime example of why you don’t cross professional boundries in the workplace. Because her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly, she was pushed out of her job as a Seattle prosecutor. She feels she has no choice, but to return to the family criminal defense law firm.

Keera was a professional chess player, and it will take all her moves to save her client from a life sentence. I do like the push pull of whether what she is doing is right or wrong. Her father, Patsy, an esteemed defense lawyer until alcohol took over his life, keeps stressing to her that it is her job to give the client the best defense possible and it is the prosecutor’s job to convict him.

This was going to be the game of her life.

I had a feeling about what happened, I just couldn’t figure out the how of it. Guess you can find most anything on Google.

It didn’t take me long to get involved in Keera’s world. The characters and scenarios are realistic and the book was impossible to put down. The mystery and suspense kept the story flowing at a rapid pace. The deeper into the story I got, the more I was determined to find out the ending before going to bed…and I made it.

In the acknowledgments, Robert Dugoni shares that he likes to give each novel a challenge. In Her Deadly Game he creates a dysfunctional family, and a character, Keera, who escaped a future of alcoholism by becoming a chess prodigy. He knows that some lawyers are very good chess players and I think he wove the game throughout the story with panache.

I want to thank Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read and review Her Deadly Game by Robert Dugoni.

GOODREADS BLURB

A defense attorney is prepared to play. But is she a pawn in a master’s deadly match? A twisting novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

Keera Duggan was building a solid reputation as a Seattle prosecutor, until her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly. For the competitive former chess prodigy, returning to her family’s failing criminal defense law firm to work for her father is the best shot she has. With the right moves, she hopes to restore the family’s reputation, her relationship with her father, and her career.

Keera’s chance to play in the big leagues comes when she’s retained by Vince LaRussa, an investment adviser accused of murdering his wealthy wife. There’s little hard evidence against him, but considering the couple’s impending and potentially nasty divorce, LaRussa faces life in prison. The prosecutor is equally challenging: Miller Ambrose, Keera’s former lover, who’s eager to destroy her in court on her first homicide defense.

As Keera and her team follow the evidence, they uncover a complicated and deadly game that’s more than Keera bargained for. When shocking information turns the case upside down, Keera must decide between her duty to her client, her family’s legacy, and her own future.

Genre: Fiction, Legal, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Format: 396 pages, Hardcover
Published: March 28, 2023 by Thomas & Mercer
Series: Keera Duggan #1

ABOUT ROBERT DUGONI

MY ROBERT DUGONI REVIEWS

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Review – Hold Strong by Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz & Chris Crabtree @robertdugoni

Posted on February 25, 2025 by fundinmental

Amazon / Kindle Unlimited / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Hold Strong was more than ten years in the making and the depth of the details reflects it. The weaving of fact and fiction makes for an epic read. I was quickly drawn into Sam Carlson’s story and learned some startling things about World War II that had my jaw hanging open.

The characters are described in vivid detail, as are the torturous times they are put through. I found myself totally engrossed in their lives and how quickly they had changed after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

If you are a fan of historical fiction and World War II, Hold Strong is a book you do not want to miss. The more than five hundred pages unfold, stirring emotions that run the gamut. I had never heard of the slave ships and what happened to them. I was shocked and struggled justifying the actions taken. The brutality heaped on the POWs from the Japanese was beyond understanding. To end on a happy note was a relief.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Hold Strong by Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, and Chris Crabtree. My thanks go out to Lake Union Publishing.

GOODREADS BLURB

From Robert Dugoni, Jeff Langholz, and Chris Crabtree comes an epic and inspiring novel—based on true events—about love, heroism, and resilience during the darkest chapters of World War II.

Sam Carlson is a projectionist in small-town Minnesota, where fantasies unspool in glorious black and white—for him and for his sweetheart, college-bound math whiz Sarah Haber. When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Sam is sent to the Philippines and captured as a POW. Brutalized but unbroken by the Bataan Death March and POW camps, Sam is one of 1,800 starved and weakened prisoners herded into the cargo hold of a barbaric hell ship called the Arisan Maru, his survival doubtful.

Determined to use her math skills on the home front, Sarah is recruited to Washington, DC, into the covert field of code breaking. When Sarah intercepts a message about a Japanese convoy, the US Navy’s mission is sink the Arisan Maru and send it to the bottom of the South China Sea. Now, the lives of the two young lovers are about to inadvertently collide in one of the most shocking acts of World War II.

Anchored in an extraordinary true story and breathlessly recreated, Hold Strong is a one-of-a-kind novel that explores faith, courage, survival, and coming home against insurmountable odds.

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, World War II
555 pages, Hardcover
First published January 28, 2025 by Lake Union Publishing

ABOUT ROBERT DUGONI

ABOUT JEFF LANGHOLZ

Dr. Jeff Langholz is an award-winning teacher and writer whose work has appeared in more than 250 media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, National Geographic, and the Economist. His adventures span five continents and include stints as a rice farmer in West Africa with the US Peace Corps, a Fulbright Scholar in South Africa, a salmon fisherman in Alaska, a tree farmer in Central America, and a professional mediator in New York. He lives along Monterey Bay in California with his wife, dog, and two semiferal cats.

ABOUT CHRIS CRABTREE

From Indiana, Chris Crabtree attended the Indianapolis high school named after one of Hold Strong’s most heroic characters. His personal connection to the story also includes time spent in The Philippines, where the story starts. Chris served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone, West Africa, where he and Jeff forged their decades-long friendship. He is an award-winning high school History and Literature teacher at Costa Rica International Academy in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

MY ROBERT DUGONI REVIEWS

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

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Review – Beyond Reasonable Doubt by Robert Dugoni #netgalley @robertdugoni

Posted on November 20, 2024 by fundinmental

Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads

MY REVIEW

I’ve seen and heard about Robert Dugoni but hadn’t read any of his work. When I saw Beyond A Reasonable Doubt on NetGalley, I grabbed it. Now I know what I’ve been missing.

Beyond Reasonable Doubt is a mishmash of genres: mystery, police procedural, courtroom drama, legal, suspense and thriller. It sure kept my attention, from beginning to end.

I saw where it was the second book in the series, but I never felt lost. Robert Dugoni filled me in on what I missed and what I needed to keep my head in the game. A head that Robert kept spinning as I tried to figure out all the details. We do have multiple suspects with motives for killing their fellow workers.

We have characters with their personal struggles and a sociopath that could be responsible for two deaths. Is she too obvious a suspect? I bounced back and forth between the suspects, just as I did for the rating for Beyond Reasonable Doubt. As you can see, I rate up when bounce around. I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

GOODREADS BLURB

A master manipulator accused of murder. An attorney sworn to defend her. Keera Duggan returns in a riveting novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

When Jenna Bernstein, disgraced wunderkind CEO of a controversial biotech company, is accused of murdering her former partner and lover, she turns to Seattle attorney Keera Duggan to defend her. Keera is more than a master chess player who brings her intuitive moves into court—she’s Jenna’s childhood friend. But considering their history, Keera knows that where Jenna goes, trouble follows.

Three years earlier, Keera’s father successfully defended Jenna when she was tried for the killing of her company’s chief medical scientist who threatened to go public with allegations of corporate fraud. Keera knows Jenna too well. When she was a kid, Keera saw Jenna for what she a manipulative and frighteningly controlling sociopath. Now, with only circumstantial evidence against Jenna, Keera is willing to bury any trepidation she might have to defend a woman she believes, this time, to be innocent.

As the investigation gets underway and disturbing questions arise, Keera puts her trust in a client who swears nothing but the truth. If this is all just another devious game, Keera might be working to set a murderer free.

Genre: Fiction, Legal, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Format: 365 pages, Kindle Edition
Published: October 22, 2024 by Thomas & Mercer
Series: Keera Duggan
Setting: Seattle, Washington

ABOUT ROBERT DUGONI

Robert Dugoni is the critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and #1 Amazon bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite police series set in Seattle, which has sold more than 8 million books worldwide. He is also the author of The Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels including The 7th Canon, Damage Control, and the literary novels, The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, for which Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award and the critically acclaimed, The World Played Chess; as well as the nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. Several of his novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction and a three-time winner of the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has also been a finalist for many other awards including the International Thriller Award, the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, the Silver Falchion Award for mystery, and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award.

Robert Dugoni’s books are sold in more than twenty-five countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages.

Visit his website at www.robertdugoni.com, and follow him on twitter @robertdugoni and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorRobertDugoni

You can see my Giveaways HERE.
You can see my Reviews HERE.
If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

My Two Months Free Kindle Unlimited Reads #kindleunlimited

Posted on June 21, 2020 by fundinmental

I signed up for the two month free of Kindle Unlimited. I binge read some series and wanted to share them with you. I didn’t review them, but you can see my Goodreads ratings or click on the cover to go to Amazon.

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Monday Mini – FREE – The Academy @robertdugoni

Posted on February 29, 2016 by fundinmental

The Academy is the first story (a short) of the Tracy Crosswhite series by Robert Dugoni.

The simple cover tells me a lot. What does it say to you?

Cover: Salamander Hill Design Inc

Get it free on Amazon by clicking on the cover below!

MY REVIEW

The Academy is a short story that shows the determination and fortitude in one woman’s story to serve a higher purpose.

After the disappearance of her sister, Tracy chose her mission in life, to become a police officer. Her ultimate goal was to be the first woman detective in homicide.

The need to have a woman on the Seattle police force opened a door her.

The Academy reads as if it is a true story of the good ol’ boy network in police departments all over the country. She held her own against the bigoted and sexist assholes that did all they could to make her life a living hell. And through it all, she goes above and beyond to help a fellow female officer.

Tracy takes no shit, but goes about fighting her battle in the right way. My feelings of respect and admiration for her makes me want to read more. I can only think her story will get better. I would recommend The Academy to all those who are looking for inspiration and a happy ending.

4 Stars

From Goodreads: Driven by the disappearance of her sister, Tracy Crosswhite quits her job as a high school science teacher to join the Seattle Police Department. While most of her classmates and instructors at the academy want her to succeed, Detective Johnny Nolasco is hell-bent on keeping the boys’ club intact.

The training sessions offer plenty of opportunities for humiliation, but Tracy’s not the type to give in. Fueled by a confrontation with her in the middle of a class, Nolasco is determined to see Tracy fail. Tracy, harboring memories of the loss of her sister and the disintegration of her family, has too much at stake to let one pigheaded detective stand in her way. With so much to lose, will she make the cut in this competitive world?

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