4-STAR REVIEW: SANGRITA by Kathryn Dodson

About The Book

Jessica Watts Southwest Suspense Series: Book 4
Publication Date: November 21, 2025

A kidnapping scheme turns deadly when private investigator Jessica Watts becomes the hunted instead of the hunter.
Jessica Watts refuses to work with her nemesis Tomas Garcia—until his desperate wife arrives with their baby, begging Jessica to find Tomas’s missing father. Tres Garcia vanished after marrying his late wife’s cousin Letty in a secret ceremony, and now Letty claims he’s too sick for visitors. When Jessica discovers bloody medical supplies in Letty’s trash, someone knocks her unconscious and she awakens trapped in a nightmare.

Held prisoner for days with Tres’s life-support machine beeping nearby, Jessica realizes Letty is running a deadly operation with border coyotes—ruthless smugglers who eliminate witnesses. The kidnapping is part of an elaborate scheme to steal Tres’s fortune, and with the coyotes closing in with orders to kill everyone, Jessica must overcome her terror and escape before Letty’s greed destroys them all—but will the tough investigator she’s always been survive becoming the prey?

Excerpt

The Review

For a paralegal, Jessica Watts manages to find trouble. Fresh off an adventure and ready for downtime, a request for help comes from an unwelcome source.

Sangrita combines the vastness of the Texas-Mexico border and a high-stakes missing person’s case. Author Kathryn Dodson delivers the latest installment in the series, featuring Watts.

This time, though, Jessica gets caught up in a dangerous scenario that spills over into her personal life. There are multiple references to past cases, but the author provides some details to bridge the gap for readers to the series.

Illegal border crossings and a plot to siphon an inheritance generate suspense, along with setting the stage for Jessica to team up with an unlikely resource.

Sangrita serves up a mystery with long-reaching impacts for the main character.

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About The Author

Kathryn writes about women who have to become their own heroes – whether they’re solving a crime or figuring out the next phase of their lives.

She grew up writing and riding horses in far West Texas. She graduated from SMU in English/Creative Writing and went on to get an MBA from Thunderbird and a PhD from Clemson. Now she spends her days writing about women who become their own heroes.

She has worked on both sides of the US/Mexico border and has held jobs with governments, chambers of commerce, and other businesses. Kathryn loves to travel and has visited 30 countries and 44 states. This inspires her novels about interesting women in fascinating places.

Originally from Texas, Kathryn had the good fortune to live in Spain, Mexico, Tanzania, and several U.S. states, and the good sense to end up in Carlsbad, California. She loves travel, fiery food, hanging out with the neighbors in the front yard on Friday evenings, and reading.