For those that missed this month's signature background announcement, this month's Signature Background is "Cold Case" by Dolores Esteban. If you haven't already downloaded the background, there's still time! As our featured Monday post, we're sharing a review that Cia provided us. Cia obviously enjoyed the story and hopefully, after reading today's review, you'll decide you want to take a look for yourself. Enjoy!

Reviewer: Cia
Status: Complete
Length: 17, 484

My first thought, when reading Dolores’ story, Cold Case, was that there was no way she packed that much information into a tale under 20,000 words! There is a rich tapestry of information that we learn about the characters and the mystery that unfolds, and it felt like a much longer tale when I read it. I’m a bit of a sucker for anything with a paranormal theme, and something that might freak me out in real life or in a movie—ritual murder, scary stuff—just fascinated me as I read Cold Case.

The main character, Adam Johnson, is a police officer who just transferred into the Cold Case Unit. Hence the story name, lol. However, his first case isn’t so cold! Another detective, Steve Mills, picks him to partner on a case that’s been on the docket for 2 years but couldn’t be cracked. This is when we’re introduced to the paranormal angle—a psychic vision witness—and the secrets within secrets of the antiques that were stolen that included a hidden knife of Aztec Origin.

Of course, Adam’s father is an expert archaeologist in Aztec and Toltec culture… and the new developments in the case cause Adam a lot of distress he has to hide from his new partner. A trip to Spain, an Antique Mafia—and OMG, did that make me laugh but apparently it’s a real thing!—a cover up, and the revelation that this whole thing is intrinsically linked with Adam’s past pulled me right in and I couldn’t stop reading until I reached the end.

Coincide? Fate? An orchestrated drama by some shadowy characters? What comes next? There’s a rather freaky twist that comes about in the story and I really didn’t expect, even though Dolores did preclude some little tidbits here and there. What that twist is, you’ll have to read the story yourself to find out, of course. All in all, a great little mystery jam packed full of investigative action and paranormal ambiance so fans of both genres could really enjoy this story!