Dying to Play (2005) by Debra Webb (Signature Select)

We begin with a multiple murder.  Elaine Jentzen, chief of detectives, is called in on the case.  A series of seemingly unrelated multiple murders have been occurring and she was trying to solve them, with no luck so far.  Her superior calls her in his office shortly thereafter and lets her know she is going to be partnered temporarily with an FBI agent until these cases were solved.  Trace, the agent in question, is not all that happy about being paired up with a female officer anymore than Elaine wants to be partners with an FBI agent.  Trace’s last partner, a rookie female, ended up dead and although he was officially cleared no one, including himself, trusted him anymore (despite his superior record before this).  He was sure the perp from his previous case was the culprit but no one would believe him and he was feeling like he would forever be on his own until he solved this and one, or both of them, ended up dead. While Elaine is a very good officer she doesn’t take Trace’s word for things, she wants proof.  After learning all the facts, and hitting a seeming dead end, she starts to lean toward Trace’s conclusion. After she is drawn into a madman’s game there is no doubt at all what is going on, just who the players are.

This is a romantic suspense but the emphasis is definitely on the suspense part. I enjoyed the book and while some hunches of yours turn out correct you don’t really know things till they actually occur in the book. The romantic part builds very slowly and doesn’t really bloom at all until toward the end of the book. Truth is the romantic part could have just been alluded to throughout the book and I don’t believe it would have changed the book in any essential way. 

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Use the talents you have, for the woods would by silent if no birds sang except the best. (from a flip inspiration book-'Thoughts for my daughter')