Review: A Steep Price

A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Two of the best aspects of this series is that the characters at two dimensional and we are always introduced to situations that broaden our knowledge of what goes on in the world outside our own lives. We've watched Del develop trust enough to embark on a serious relationship; Faz and his wife, Vera are now facing a personal health challenge but their son has successfully opened his restaurant and proposed to his girlfriend; Kins' marriage and love for his two boys help in the climax of this current case; and Tracy and Dan have a new baby girl continuing Tracy's path away from the tragedy of her sister's disappearance into a life of happiness and peace.

As to new knowledge, this book introduces us to an Indian family and the culture that focuses on the arranged marriages of daughters so that they may take on the roles of wives, parents and caretakers of their husband's parents. This focus leaves no room for education or professional lives for these women. Also, we learn of a dating practice called sugar baby dating. Young women basically prostituting themselves to sugar daddies to gain the money necessary to advance themselves primarily as college students.

These last two practices produce the case that Kins and Tracy find themselves trying to solve--the apparent disappearance of an Indian-American young woman struggling to pay for medical school as well as housing. Needless to say, it is not long before her body is found and a missing person case becomes a homicide.

Meanwhile, Del and Faz are investigating the drive-by murder of a young mother who had become an activist in her community to rid it of the drugs and drug cartels that are making life nothing short of dangerous.

Between the aforementioned strengths of the book and the police procedurals and mystery they hold, this book has depth as well as interest.

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