Detective Josie Quinn is back (well actually, I guess she never left), and she's in fighting form. This time, besides her usual murder-solving prowess, she and her police colleagues are dealing with the weather: heavy rains have flooded much of small-town Denton, Pennsylvania, rendering some spots virtually inaccessible and putting investigations on a slippery slope.
After Josie and her partner Gretchen Palmer save an elderly woman whose home - and her - are about to be swept away by the raging current, a long-dead, tarp-wrapped body is unearthed, apparently from underneath the rental home's concrete basement. Turns out it's Beverly Urban, one of Josie's high-school classmates - a bully who had a rough life but took it out on everybody else except a couple of close friends. Just another cold case, or so it seems, until Josie discovers that the teenager was wearing a baseball awards jacket that's way too similar to the one that belonged to Josie's late husband, Ray.
Back then, Ray claimed he lost it; but Josie all too well recalls rumors that Ray and Beverly had a "thing" behind Josie's back. Josie didn't believe it then and doesn't want to believe it now, but on the other hand, evidence doesn't lie. Beverly and her mother, Vera, had serious issues which, apparently, led to the two of them making a sudden getaway from Denton, never to be heard from again.
Since Ray's death, Josie is in a happy relationship with coworker Noah, who's almost too good to be true. She's not pining an old love, but neither does she want to learn that her high-school sweetheart and former husband isn't the person she thought he was. As the investigation progresses, Josie gets a call from an unidentified woman who says she's willing to spill the beans. Maybe yes, maybe no; but it doesn't really matter when the woman is murdered right before Josie and Gretchen's eyes.
But when the going gets tough, the tough get going; and nothing describes Josie Quinn more than the word tough. The trail leads to some of Denton's most wealthy and influential residents, several of whom have been keeping dark secrets for many years. In between the action are flashback chapters outlining Josie's memories from high school - and while it's done well, I really hope this is the last I'll see of this over-used technique in future books. And while I'm on the subject of please don'ts, if I read the phrase "his/her smile didn't quite reach his/her eyes" one more time, I'm gonna barf (it's appeared at least once in at least four out of the last five books I've read; enough, already).
None of that, though, has dampened my enthusiasm for this series - and I'll be eager to read the next one (I've read and enjoyed four others). Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for giving me the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of this one.
Save Her Soul by Lisa Regan (Bookouture, August 2020); 284 pp.
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