Credible Threat by J. A. Jance

 Credible Threat is the 15th book in the Ali Reynolds mystery series.  It's our book club selection for October. I haven't been at the book club since earlier this year, so we'll see how the discussion goes.  

 

This is a novel of revenge.  The person who is being avenged is dead.  The perpetrator of the crime is dead.

However, if you're a mom and you lost your only son to a drug overdose when he was way too young, and you find out why he turned to drugs, maybe there's no time limit on making someone pay.

In this case, the mom is a seventy year old, outwardly mild mannered woman who wouldn't harm anyone.

She plans to exact avenge for the abuse her son suffered at the hands of a priest, by killing the man who was Archbishop at the time, and who is still Archbishop.  It was on him to prevent such things from ever happening.

The title is interesting in that, when Rachel began issuing threats to the archbishop, he was concerned enough to show a friend, who happened to be Chief of Police.  The Chief said he thought there was no credible threat in the notes left in collection baskets, and that the matter shouldn't be pursued.

Is this seventy year old woman to be taken seriously, though?  Could she be a credible threat? She's watched plenty of television and plots some rather amazing stratagems.  She's careful not to leave any DNA.  She leaves her threatening notes at different parishes and never goes to the same one twice.

She follows the Archbishop on social media.  Should she kill him herself or hire someone? On TV, hiring someone almost always backfires.  She's determined not to get caught.

As the threats increase, a worried Archbishop asks Ali Reynolds and High Noon Enterprises to look into the notes.

These experts in criminal behavior see an immediate and imminent threat.  They're convinced that the note sender means to harm the Archbishop, and with little to go on, they try to find who this person is before murder is done.

For myself, I'd have liked less day to day background on all of the characters.  I didn't think I needed to know as much information as was given.

Once the would be murderer was in full swing and determined to carry out her revenge, things sailed along.  Her attention to detail was amazing but believable.  

My favorite character was Frigga, an AI built by a serial killer from an earlier novel, used by High Noon Enterprises to get information from sources that may not have been legally accessible.  She had something very near a likeable personality.