Thursday, May 20, 2021

Lost Souls by Jenny O'Brien


I will start by saying I absolutely love this series. Jenny O'Brien does it again by pulling me into the hectic lives of Gabriella "Gaby" Darin, Rusty Mullholland and the team of likeable detectives in Northern Wales.  The Welsh setting is beautiful and I sent my Welsh friend Jo a list of the unpronounceable names (for me) so she could translate. 

Some place names are Rhos-on-Sea, Llandudno, Ystad golygfa'r mor and Aberystwyth.

We begin with Gaby Darin is the position of acting Detective Inspector, her leading the team of detectives in the search for a missing ten year old girl, Elodie "Ellie" Fry. The little girl has a happy home life with her single mother but something she discovers terrifies her and she runs away.  You will discover later on in the book what the horrific finding was and why she ran.

To complicate matters there is a case about a missing elderly woman who failed to show up at her bridge club meeting. Her fridge is stocked with food, a tea cup is left on the counter and it appears she simply vanished into thin air.  After the crime scene folks arrived to investigate they find traces of blood which were hastily cleaned up.  This opens up much older cases of missing elderly residents in the area.  

But wait - there's more! A man who cleans the crematorium arrives at the police station to report three hip replacement prothesthics were found after the last cremation.  Apparently  someone is disposing of "body parts" in a way no one would ever discover, until an employee is spot on about his job and reports this discovery. 

The hunt for the missing girl takes priority yet Gaby's team of detectives, torn in three diferent directions, work tirelessly to solve all three cases.   I will say I was surprised by the way everything came together. Another excellent mystery tying up all the loose ends.  I can't wait for the next book to see where Gaby's career is headed. Her temporary appointment to D.I. could become a permanent position but we won't know until the next book. There is some drama about that appointment and the competition.

 Publication date May 21, 2021 by  HQ Digital.  Genre: General Fiction, Mystery and Thrillers.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book.  I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.





2 comments:

  1. Another series I'm adding to my series to try list which is growing but the list of series to catch up on is shrinking so I figure it all works out! I have been wanting to read more procedurals.

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    Replies
    1. Katherine, I absolutely love the series. It definitely isn’t cozy but it is not graphic either. This character development is so good and you start to care about each of the detectives & want to know more about them. I’d recommend it!

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