Killer Triggers

I love Joe Kenda. He tells the cold, hard truth of his profession. His candid approach is riveting. My appreciation for him is heightened when he talks about the emotional toll it took on him over the years, and yet he found a way to get some relief and was able to encourage others to do the same without shame. What a beautiful thing!!

Lt. Joe Kenda, a twenty-three-year veteran of the Colorado Springs Police Department, spent twenty-one years chasing killers as a homicide detective and commander of the major crimes unit. Kenda and his team solved 356 of his 387 homicide cases, getting a 92 percent solve rate—one of the highest in the country. Rage, fear, money, envy, fear, sex, and sometimes just plain evil --- these are the most common triggers for homicide. Lt. Kenda takes the reader on some of his cases that involved some ...if not all, of the most common triggers. Per Lt Kenda, even though the why of a murder case may not be critical in an investigation, it can sometimes lead to the killer. For the true crime aficionado, this is a terrific book. Facts are presented along with Kenda's thoughts at the time. Sometimes I could hear the sadness in his literary voice, sometimes the anger at not finding justice for a victim. I could also hear the humor .. My favorite chapter was the one in which police dogs were featured ... how much training they have, exactly when they're used ... and the distinct personalities of some of them... and also of the handlers. This is very well written with intriguing stories by a man who knows. Many thanks to the author / Blackstone Publishing / Netgalley for the digital copy of this most interesting book. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

I first became aware of now retired Lt. Joe Kenda through his television show Homicide Hunter, which is a real life account of the crimes that he investigated with a career that spanned 23 years with the Colorado Springs Police Department. Solving 356 out of the 387 crimes that Kenda and his team investigated, Killer Triggers takes the reader through some of these cases, in particular those that were motivated by sex, money and drugs. For a true crime fan, this book and his previous, I Will Find You: Solving Killer Cases from My Life Fighting Crime, is a must read penned by an amazing man who stopped at nothing to bring justice for the victims and their families.