Book Review: Always Look Twice (Uncommon Justice #2) by Elizabeth Goddard

 Always Look Twice (Uncommon Justice #2). Elizabeth Goddard. Revell (2019). 367 pages. Genre:  Romantic Suspense

First Lines:  "Monday, 7:35 P.M.  Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming.  Harper Reynolds inched forward, hoping she hadn't made a mistake in coming there."

Summary:  Harper has taken some time off from her job as a crime scene photographer.  She has been traveling and camping with her sister.  Rather than photographing crime scenes, she has been taking photos of the landscape.  She has been waiting for this opportunity to possibly photograph a grizzly bear.  Her tripod and telephoto lens are set up in Bridger-Teton National Forest.  Finally, she catches sight of a grizzly across the river and begins focusing and taking pictures.  While she is doing this, she notices something glinting in the sun.  When she points her lens in that direction, she realizes there is a woman down there who is in trouble.  While Harper watches the woman through her lens, she sees a  man come out of the forest behind the woman with a gun pointed at her.  Her instincts kick in and she begins snapping pictures.  Harper watches the woman fall and then hears a shot.  She keeps snapping away until she realizes the shooter has his scope pointed right at her.  She quickly grabs her camera and tries to flee.  But she slips and falls and hits her head on a rock.  She screams and tries to get up, but she is a little dazed.  

Soon, rancher Heath McKade arrives on the scene.  He heard Harper's scream from where he was camping with a group from his ranch.  He set out on a horse to see if he could locate the source of the scream.  When he finds Harper she is frantic because when she fell, her camera went over the side of the cliff.  Heath gives Harper a ride back to the camp and helps her get warm.  Harper grew up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming which is not far from the National Forest.  As Heath is tending her wound, she suddenly recognizes him as her best friend from childhood. He recognizes Harper, but is not sure how to act towards her.  On the one hand he is glad to see her, but on the other it has been many years since he last spoke to her.  Harper, her mother and her sister left the area suddenly after her father was murdered.  She really didn't have a chance for a proper good-bye and this has left Heath a little unsure of where he stands with her.  

When they get back to Heath's ranch the police are notified that there has been a murder.  They take Harper's statement, but since she lost her camera and the memory card containing all the pictures, they only have her word to go on.  Night has fallen and the search for a body and Harper's camera will have to wait for daylight.  The police search the area and find nothing.  No body, no trace of a murder and no camera.  Harper begins to realize the police think that maybe she imagined it all.  But Harper knows what she saw and that the killer saw her.  When an attempt is made on her life, the sheriff begins to realize this is serious.  Can Heath keep Harper safe?  Can they locate the killer before he kills again?

My thoughts:  This was a great story line with many twists and turns that kept me eagerly reading.  I had a suspicion who the killer was, but then I was thrown off by a red herring.  I didn't know for sure until Harper knew for sure.  

Harper's line of work is interesting.   Her love for photography and her need to see the world through her camera was familiar to me.  I have a son who is the same way.  I enjoyed getting to know Harper as she worked through things from her past even as she tried to solve this mystery.  

Unfortunately, I didn't really connect with Heath.  He seemed like a flat character to me.  I didn't feel like I knew him well.  The romance part of the story was very minor which is okay with me.  

Overall, this was an intriguing story with plenty of suspense.