Table of Contents

Ok so I did not really enjoy the first half of Amanda Kyle Williams The Stranger that You Seek, but the second half of the book was really good, and propelled me on to the second book in the Keye Street series Stranger in the Room.

For me, there was no weak first half in this book, it grabbed me from the start and did not let go until the last page!

Stranger in the Room the Mystery is Set

Miki Ashton, Keye Street’s cousin returns home after a night on the town, puts the key in the front door of her house, before she can open the door, she hears footsteps in the supposedly empty house!!

When she makes her way to the window in the front of the house, and peers in, she sees a slightly overweight man standing in the shadows, as he stands there he forms a gun with his fingers and he pretends to shoot Miki!!  So begins this great twisting mystery!! Who was this stranger in the room?? Why was he there?? Is he the source of the mysterious calls, and noises that plague Miki??

A Second Layer is Added

Meanwhile. Keye’s boyfriend Detective Aaron Rauser is investigating the murder of a young baseball player on the cusp of good things! Soon the mystery man and the boy are entwined in an ever-growing murder investigation and Keye is once again drawn into the hunt for a murderer. Can she and Rauser put the pieces of the puzzle together before more lives are lost?  Soon Miki  and Keye become the focus of  the murderer’s wrath!! Why??

My Reaction to The

My Reactions to Stranger in The Room

I imagine that one of the reasons that I liked this book more than its predecessor, is that now I know the players. All the characters from Book 1 are back including of course Keye and Rauser, along with Keye’s adoptive parents, her work partner, stoner computer geek Neil, Tyrone the bail bondsman who Keye does work for, as well as, Larry Quinn the attorney who supplies Keye’s PI firm work.

In this installment Quinn asks Keye to  investigate into the actions of a North Georgia Crematorium. This subplot was better than the investigation of a missing cow in the last book!

But I think that’s only half of the reason I enjoyed the book more.  The other half is the story itself. In this book, I thought that Keyes profiling of the perp was more in-depth, and it really brought to life the how and why of the killer’s actions, but profiling alone does not capture a criminal, so the work of Rauser and hs team played a big role in the discovery of the identity of the killer.

Final Thoughts

Bottomline: This book was a real page turner for me. A good police procedural that coupled Keye’s keen profiling skills with Rauser’s dogged police work, kinda like Bones and Booth without the bones or the FBI!  Along the way there was also Keye’s addiction battle, juxtaposed against Miki’s love for both alcohol and drugs, and Keye’s mom’s  attempt to be the next “Paula Dean” which made the book enjoyable on more than one level! So I am now a fan and I am ready to move on to Don’t Tak to Strangers book 3  in the series!! Now watch when I checked out both Book 1 and 2 book 3 was on the shelf what do you want to bet that tomorrow, when I take back this book, book 3 will be gone!!

Series Links

Author Website

Facebook

Twitter (X)

Purchase on Amazon

 

About Amanda Kyle Williams

Amanda (1957–2018) was a master of the “unconventional sleuth.” A former freelance courier and process server, she brought real-world grit to her Atlanta-based Keye Street series. Her work was shortlisted for the Townsend Prize and the Shamus Award, and translated into nine languages.

(Book 32 of 2014 — Post Recreated & Updated Feb 2026)

The post Stranger in the Room (Keye Street Series #2) – Amanda Kyle Williams appeared first on .

Ok so I did not really enjoy the first half of Amanda Kyle Williams The Stranger that You Seek, but the second half of the book was really good, and propelled me on to the second book in the Keye Street series Stranger in the Room. For me, there was no weak first half in this book, it grabbed me from the start and did not let go until the last page! Miki Ashton, Keye Street’s cousin returns home after a night on the town, puts the key in the front door of her house, before she can open the door, she hears footsteps in the supposedly empty house!! When she makes her way to the window in the front of the house, and peers in, she sees a slightly overweight man standing in the shadows, as he stands there he forms a gunwith his fingers and he pretends to shoot Miki!!  So begins this great twisting mystery!! Who was this stranger in the room?? Why was he there?? Is he the source of the mysterious calls, and noises that plague Miki??

Meanwhile. Keye’s boyfriend Detective Aaron Rauser is investigating the murder of a young baseball player on the cusp of good things! Soon the mystery man and the boy are entwined in an ever-growing murder investigation and Keye is once again drawn into the hunt for a murderer. Can she and Rauser put the pieces of the puzzle together before more lives are lost?  Soon Miki  and Keye become the focus of  the murderer’s wrath!! Why??

I imagine that one of the reasons that I liked this book more than its predecessor, is that now I know the players. All the characters from Book 1 are back including of course Keye and Rauser, along with Keye’s adoptive parents, her work partner, stoner computer geek Neil, Tyrone the bail bondsman who Keye does work for, as well as, Larry Quinn the attorney who supplies Keye’s PI firm work. In this installment Quinn asks Keye to  investigate into the actions of a North Georgia Crematorium. This subplot was better than the investigation of a missing cow in the last book!

But I think that’s only half of the reason I enjoyed the book more.  The other half is the story itself. In this book, I thought that Keyes profiling of the perp was more in-depth, and it really brought to life the how and why of the killer’s actions, but profiling alone does not capture a criminal, so the work of Rauser and hs team played a big role in the discovery of the identity of the killer.

Bottomline: This book was a real page turner for me. A good police procedural that coupled Keye’s keen profiling skills with Rauser’s dogged police work, kinda like Bones and Booth without the bones or the FBI!  Along the way there was also Keye’s addiction battle, juxtaposed against Miki’s love for both alcohol and drugs, and Keye’s mom’s  attempt to be the next “Paula Dean” which made the book enjoyable on more than one level! So I am now a fan and I am ready to move on to Don’t Tak to Strangers book 3  in the series!! Now watch when I checked out both Book 1 and 2 book 3 was on the shelf what do you want to bet that tomorrow, when I take back this book, book 3 will be gone!!

Grade: A solid  A – so check it out!!

Links

Amanda Kyle Wiliiams.com

Facebook

Twitter

Amazon

((Book 32 of 2014)

The post Amanda Kyle Williams – Stranger in the Room (Keye Street Series #2) appeared first on .

Table of Contents

Originally Published in Nov 2014 REvised and Updated Feb 2026

So last week I wrote that I was struggling through The Stranger You Seek the first of the Keye Street novels from Amanda Kyle Williams. Tonight I went to the library to get book 2 in the series Stranger in the Room!

It’s easy to explain the reason , stealing and editing a line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail “It Got Better!!

I guess that it took a while for the story to grab me, but once it did it didn’t let go until the last twist and turn in the plot!

About The Stranger You Seek – Keye Street #1

The protagonist of the book is Keye Street, an ex-FBI profiler who was a rising star in the agency, until her alcohol addiction brought her career crashing down.

Now Keye is a working PI in Atlanta chasing down bail jumpers, catching adulterers, serving subpoenas, that is until her best friend Atlanta Police Detective Aaron Rauser calls her to help him out on a grisly murder case.

The case’s profile quickly  rises soon turning into a hunt, for the “Wishbone” killer. As the killer taunts Rauser and Street, the hunt turns personal, with Keye and Rauser in the killer’s crosshairs.

My Minor Problems Are Overcome

Now, back to the problems that I see as minor and were overcome  by the storyline.  Elizabeth B. in her review at Goodreads didn’t see it that way though… she wrote……

… The main character was just the most annoying narrator ever. It was as if every problem a person could have was built in by the author. Flawed is one thing but you pretty easily degenerate into Mary Sue-ish and that’s exactly what happened here. Freakish name? Check. Bad family history? Check. Discrimination from childhood? Check. Drugs and/or alcohol abuse? Check. But I’m a survivor and will overcome everything all by my lonesome? Check.  Read More At Goodreads

I really didn’t think it was that bad and by the end of the book, I liked Keye and Rauser, and saw them as a team that I could root for!

Final Thoughts

Bottom line: A strong twisting ending made the book a good read and a series that I will follow at least into the next book Stranger in the Room. so Check it Out!

Grade: B – over the first half of the book, A for the last so I guess that’s a B+!!

Post 2026 Additions

Soon after reading The Stranger You Seek I read book # 2 in the series The Stranger in the Room -. You can check out that post here

Recognition for Amanda Kyle Williams

Both The Stranger You Seek^] and The Stranger in the Room have appeared on annual best-of lists. Publishers Weekly called The Stranger You Seek “an explosive, unpredictable, and psychologically complex thriller that turns crime fiction clichés inside out.” Her novels have been translated into nine languages.

In 1992 The Providence File was nominated for Best Mystery at the 4th Annual Lambda Literary Awards.^[

In 2012 The Stranger You Seek was shortlisted for the Townsend Prize for Fiction.^[ The following year, the book was shortlisted for the Private Eye Writers of America’s Shamus Award

Amanda Kyle Williams Book Series

Keye Street/Stranger series

• The Stranger You Seek (2011)
• Stranger in the Room (2012)
• Don’t Talk to Strangers (2014)

Madison McGuire series

• Club Twelve (1990)
• The Providence File (1991)
• A Singular Spy (1992)
• The Spy in Question (1993)

Tragically Amanda Kyle Williams shortly after finishing Don’t Talk to Strangers in 2014 she was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away in 2018.

When I finished Stranger in the Room I had conversation with Amanda either on Facebook through a comment she left on my blog. I told her get on the stick and finish that third book – Her comment was short and sweet – Aye Aye Sir! I feel badly that I didn’t know she had died until a few years after she passed. When I went to look if she had written any new books.

Maybe it’s time to find those Madison McGuire books.

The post Amanda Kyle Williams – The Stranger You Seek and it’s off to book two! appeared first on .

So last week I wrote that I was struggling through The Stranger You Seek the first of the Keye Street novels from Amanda Kyle Williams. Tonight I went to the library to get book 2 in the series Stranger in the Room! It’s easy to explain the reason , stealing and editing a line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail “It Got Better!!