Crescendo

ANTHONY AWARD NOMINEE Best Audiobook 2014.
One dead woman. A missing child. The diabolic father who will do anything to get his son back. The female cop who risks everything to keep the boy safe. CRESCENDO - Redemption with a bullet

As the only female Native American officer on the Bryson City, North Carolina police force, Inola Walela, must always play her A game. All bets are off when during a routine traffic stop the passenger insists her son has been kidnapped but is struck by a car before Inola can glean any hard facts. An altercation ensues and Inola's partner is felled by a bullet-possibly from her gun. On administrative leave, fraught with guilt for allegedly killing her partner, and obsessed with the possibility of a missing child out there somewhere, she defies the force and her fianc?, Sheriff Steven Hawk. Inola sets off on her own journey to find the missing boy. CRESCENDO is Book Three of the Smoky Mountain Inquest police procedural series.

"Ledford raises suspense to a higher level." Suspense Magazine

"With her trademark evocative prose, Ledford drew me into the hazy Smoky Mountain world of Native American Police Officer Inola Walela-a world filled with danger, pain, and deep compassion. I kept turning pages long past my bedtime to keep up with Inola on her vivid and explosive adventure. Highly recommended!" Rebecca Cantrell, New York Times bestselling author
"Every time I tried putting CRESCENDO down Ledford hooked me into reading just a few more chapters. The action in this book is dangerous to sleep cycles." Jeffrey Siger, International Bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis Mysteries
"Inola Walela becomes the avenging angel of death, leaving no stone unturned in order to bring justice for one small boy in this knife-edge drama. Walela's search brings her closer to the truth in a cataclysmic chaos of events. Following in the footsteps of J.A. Jance, the police procedural genre has birthed a new author to follow. In CRESCENDO, Deborah J Ledford intertwines her Cherokee heritage with her writing, exposing all of us to her award-winning style." Suspense Magazine

"Since I read the first book in the series, Staccato, I've loved the character Inola, a Native American cop who's constantly having to prove herself to her police department colleagues in the relatively backwoods town of the Bryson City, North Carolina. In spite of her stubborn nature, her inability to communicate with those she truly loves, and her insistence on going out on her own despite obvious dangers that threaten - you can't help but love her. Tough, focused, and smart, she's everything you'd want in a heroine." Midwest Book Review