Abandoned by Booklikes

Though I know that Hoag has "Ashes to Ashes" as the first Kovac and Liska book. I always thought "Dust to Dust" was the first book in the series. Mainly because we get Kovac and Liska's third person POVs in this one and the last book really focused on John Quinn and Kate Conlan. "Dust to Dust' has Kovac and Liska investigated the death of an IAB officer with ties to a legendary police officer. Though ruled a suicide, both Kovac and Liska believe the officer was murdered. There are ties to an older homicide from decades ago.

I love Kovac and Liska. They bounce off each other very well and you can see why they work as partners.

Kovac is twice divorced though at his heart he does want to be with someone. We see him starting to click with a lieutenant in IA. This is also the beginning of the Christmas light wars he has with his next door neighbor. I don't know why that whole thing tickles me, but it does. Kovac makes mention of Kate Conlan from book #1, and even goes and sees her and John Quinn (now together and happy). Even though Kovac would love nothing more to ignore the calls from the top to close the current case they are working, he and Liska still push ahead. 

Liska is a divorced mother of two still hung up on her ex. You get to see her trying to juggle being a detective along with being there for her two boys. It's nice to see a female homicide detective who is apparently well liked be her colleagues and very good at her job. 

We get some great secondary characters that I can't say too much about. I really enjoyed Amanda Savard (the lieutenant from IAB) as well as callbacks to book number one. 

I thought the writing was very solid. The current case ties into at least two other side plots, but I found that everything works. 

The setting of Minneapolis always makes me think of winter. I have no idea why. Probably because most of Hoag's books seem to take place during the fall/winter. 

The ending was a gut punch to me. I didn't see the events coming and all I could think was if only at the end.