The First Death by Kendra Elliot

 

Deschutes County, Oregon

When Rowan Wolff was five, she and her brother, Malcolm, were kidnapped. Rowan was saved; her brother was never found. Now, twenty-five years later, Rowan helps to find the lost and the missing with her SAR dog, Thor. And every year on Malcolm's birthday, she returns to the forest where she was found to search for his remains. On one of these searches, she discovers the body of a young woman. Her death seems to match the recent murders of two other young women. Detective Evan Bolton, who's assigned to the case, suspects they might have a serial killer on their hands. And the more he investigates, the more convinced he becomes that these cases relate somehow to Rowan's and her brother's kidnapping.

My thoughts:  Kendra Elliot knows how to craft a compelling mystery with some very engaging characters. Her Mercy Kilpatrick series is a favorite of mine, which is where she first introduces readers to Evan and Rowan. But now they have their own book. And I loved getting to know them better. Thor, too, of course! Elliot does an excellent job of weaving Rowan's past experiences in with Evan's current investigation. And the ending, as the truth of the situation finally comes out, is both exciting and satisfying. I really enjoyed this one and can't wait to check out The Next Grave, and read more about Evan and Rowan and their developing relationship. 

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

Other Kendra Elliot novels I've posted about:

A Merciful Secret

In the Pines

I Know Who You Are by Barbara Rae-Venter

 "All my life, mysteries have called out to me to be solved."

From the blurb:  In I Know Who You Are, Barbara Rae-Venter reveals how she went from researching her family history as a retiree to hunting for a notorious serial killer--and how she became the nation's leading authority on investigative genetic genealogy, the most dazzling new crime-fighting weapon to appear in decades. 

My thoughts:  Talk about a fascinating look at how far investigations have come in the use of DNA, especially in solving cold cases. I loved Rae-Venter's story and how she went from researching her own family history, to helping adopted children search for their biological parents using commercial DNA sites, to volunteering her time to help police hunt down the Golden State Killer using one DNA sample and the latest methods of genetic genealogy. 

There's A LOT of science in this book, but Rae-Venter explains it well. I learned the difference between autosomal and mitochondrial DNA; that a centimorgan is the unit of measurement for how much DNA two people share; and about DNA segment triangulation and how they can build family trees down from the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) found between two people to figure out the identity of a third person. It's time-consuming work requiring diligence and attention to detail, and Rae-Venter does it well. 

All the cases Rae-Venter chronicles in this book are so interesting! I loved her investigative process, and how she uses pieces of DNA to solve the most baffling of puzzles. It's true crime writing at its best.

Happy Reading!

The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands

"The not-knowing. That's the mental and emotional cancer.

.... The not-knowing is mad-making."

No one knows how many people go missing in North America's National Parks or other wilderness areas every year. There's no list or database. But  I bet the number is higher than anyone thinks. After all, there's a lot of forest and wilderness in America. Over 800 million acres. Even in Utah, where I live, hikers, campers and hunters go missing every year in our mountains. Most are found. But not all. Some just vanish.

In early April 2017, Jacob Gray's bicycle and  gear were found near the Sol Duc River in Olympic National Park in Washington. There was no sign of Jacob. In The Cold Vanish, Jon Billman chronicles the search for Jacob over the following weeks and months. He also writes about other cold vanishings across North America and what makes the searches for these missing people so difficult. And so puzzling. Some of these mysteries have sad endings, but many are never solved. 

I found this book fascinating. Jon Billman is a gifted writer and natural storyteller. And the stories of all the missing are sometimes heartbreaking, often mystifying, and always compelling. If I decide to do a list of my favorite nonfiction reads of 2021, this book will definitely be near the top.

Happy Reading!

More bookish suspense...

Mila Vasquez works in Limbo--the missing persons bureau at Federal Police Headquarters--where the walls are covered with photographs of the missing. So she's surprised when she gets summoned to the scene of a mass homicide. The apparent shooter? A man who went missing seventeen years earlier. Then another murder is committed; this time by a woman who went missing three years ago. It's a disturbing pattern. Why did these people decide to disappear all those years ago? Where have they been all this time? And why are they coming back to commit these murders now? As Nina puzzles over these questions, she comes across an even more disturbing clue. One that links these cases with another that took place twenty years earlier. A case that was never solved.

"The long night has begun. The army of shadows is already in the city. They are preparing for his coming, because he will soon be here. The Wizard, the Enchanter of Souls, the Goodnight Man: Kairus has more than a thousand names."

The Vanished Ones by Donato Carrisi is an intense and compelling psychological thriller that delves into the darkness that dwells in the souls of men, and how easily some people can by manipulated by evil. Carrisi's plots are impossible to predict; I love his many turns and twists, and how I never know what's coming next. And Mila is such a great character:  complicated, unconventional, impulsive, perceptive, and utterly devoid of empathy. She's also a fear junkie who's drawn to the darkness within her own soul. She's in Carrisi's previous novel, The Whisperer, (which I also loved and which you should really read first).  Carrisi is the master of psychological suspense and his books are unforgettable 5-star reads.

Happy Reading!

P.S.  Carrisi's The Lost Girls of Rome is also an amazing read.

Only Daughter...

I've always been good at playing a part...

It's the look in their eyes that does it. A mix of pity and disgust. Like I'm worth nothing, just another stray for them to clean up. A memory slowly opens and I realize I know exactly how to get myself out of this. The power of what I'm about to say is huge. It courses through my body like a shot of vodka, removing the tightness in my throat and sending tingles to the tips of my fingers. I don't feel helpless anymore; I know I can pull this off.  "My name is Rebecca Winter. Eleven years ago, I was abducted."

But she's not Rebecca. She's an imposter who only intends to borrow Rebecca's identity until she can get the police off her back. But having a nice home to go to, and a warm bed to sleep in, and loving parents is appealing. Plus, there are things in her own past she's trying to escape. So she continues the charade. And being Rebecca isn't so bad...until she begins to suspect that something's not right in the Winter home. Plus, a black van keeps following her. Bec's parents and twin brothers are acting strangely. And what if whoever caused the real Bec to disappear decides to come after her?

Anna Snoekstra skillfully interweaves Bec's story with that of her imposter in this compelling psychological suspense novel. Trying to figure out what happened to the real Bec kept me guessing all the way to the unsettling ending. And the impending danger to her imposter added another chilling layer. I liked this one. I also liked how Snoekstra played off the name Rebecca Winter, so similar to Daphne du Maurier's own character--and just like in her novel, Rebecca, we never learn the real name of Rebecca's successor in this book either.

Only Daughter is a fun, fast-paced read. What made it even better was reading it along with Melody. So be sure to check out her review and see what she thought of this psychological thriller. She also asked me a couple of questions when we were done. Here they are along with my answers:

Q. What do you think the real Rebecca Winter and the imposter have in common and do you like any of them?

Bec shoplifts and then flaunts her new acquisitions while the imposter pretends to be someone she's not and never flinches as she tells lie and lie, so I think they both have a similar kind of recklessness about them. I also think both of them have the same tendency to run from their problems rather than face the truth. And while I liked both girls, I liked the imposter a little bit more than the real Bec. To me, she just seemed like more of a scrappy fighter/survivor. And I liked that about her. 

Q. Who do you  most sympathize with? The real Bec, the imposter, or both?

I sympathized with both characters, but at the end of the book I was rooting for the imposter while feeling mostly pity (along with a little frustration) for Bec.

Happy Reading!

Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

"I wasn't well and I felt fine. I breathed easily but far too quickly, my eyes were bright--too bright; I'd dispensed with the pills that slowed down my thoughts, but now they raced away out of control. I was living in strange days."

 Margot Lewis lives in Cambridge, England, and teaches the Classics at a posh high school; she also writes an advice column for the local newspaper. And despite a few breakdowns in the past and her upcoming divorce, life seems to be going well. Until Katie Browne, one of her students, disappears. Then Margot gets a letter addressed to her advice column from a girl named Bethan Avery who claims she's being held captive in a cellar and needs Margot to save her. But the real Bethan was abducted over twenty years ago. So is the letter real? Or a hoax? And is this letter somehow connected to Katie Browne? Margot feels driven to find out. (And so does charismatic criminologist Martin Forrester.) But the truth may be more than Margot can handle.


I really liked this book. In fact, I think it's the best psychological thriller I've read all year. It's gripping and unexpected and it has some great characters. Not only did I find it hard to put down, I was sorry when it came to an end. Dear Amy reminds me a lot of two other favorite reads:  Now You See Me by Sharon Bolton and The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry. So if you like either of those, I think you'll really like this one, too. I know I did.

Happy Reading!

Ireland, Archaeology and a Mystery

Erin Hart's Haunted Ground offers all three. When a bog body is found in the Drumcleggan Bog, Irish archaeologist Cormac Maguire and American pathologist Nora Gavin team up to investigate not only the red-haired girl's identity, but when she lived and how she died. But that's not the only mystery troubling the small town of Dunbeg. Two years ago, Mina Osborne and her small son went missing. The police suspect her husband, Hugh, but no one knows what really happened. Maybe Cormanc and Nora can help Detective Devaney find evidence to solve that mystery, too.

I really enjoyed the archaeological aspects of this novel--how things can be preserved in the peat for hundreds of years, and how, once found, they offer a doorway into the past. I also loved getting to know Ireland a little better--glimpsing part of its history and culture, even its music. But it's the mystery surrounding Mina's disappearance that drives this novel. Haunted Ground is well-plotted and well-written, with likeable characters. (Especially 39-year-old flute-playing Cormac with his dark brown hair, intense dark eyes, and lean rower's build, and his love of the past.) There were a few coincidences at the very end surrounding the red-haired girl from the bog that felt just a little too neat and convenient, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this book. It's an interesting mystery; plus, it's set in Ireland...what more could you possibly want?

Happy Reading!