Cross Her Heart is the initial offering in what has come to be identified as the Bree Taggert series of novels by author Melinda Leigh. By the time the novel was originally published in March 2020, Leigh had already produced a number of volumes in a variety of different series referred to individually as the She Can, Midnight, Scarlet Falls, and Morgan Dane collections.
Cross Her Heart introduces Philadelphia homicide detective Bree Taggert as a terrified eight-year-old making a desperate call to 911 operators as the sound of physical violence punctuates the heated words of an argument taking place between her parents. The argument ends with the sound of two shotgun blasts echoing through the house. Years later, Bree's baby sister will die under remarkably similar circumstances with one notable exception: no suicide followed the murder and the husband has gone missing.
Leigh followed up on this introductory criminal investigation by Taggert with a sequel the very same year. Two more novels were added to the Taggert series in 2021 along with a shorter novella titled Her Second Death. Dead Against Her was released in 2022 along with 2023 publication date for two more novels, Lie to Her and Catch Her Death. In case you lost count, that will make twenty-five novels published since 2011. Call Melinda Leigh anything you want based on whether you enjoy her writing or not but call her a lazy procrastinator only out of a burning envy toward what is obviously a robust work ethic.
