WHAT SHE FOUND

4 stars out of 5

Each time I open a book in this terrific series, I'm sure I'll be in for a treat. This one - the ninth - kept that streak going. Now the sole detective in the Seattle Police Department's Cold Case Unit, Detective Tracy Crosswhite is married to prosecuting attorney Dan O'Leary, and they share still-in-diapers daughter Daniella. She's still not popular with quite a few of her fellow officers in blue including her current boss; but overall, she's enjoying the relative solitude and independence of working alone and staying loyal to the few officers she's long respected and trusted.

That gets put to the test here, as she agrees to look into the 25-year-old disappearance and presumed murder of Lisa Childress, a hot-shot newspaper reporter who left behind a young daughter (and a husband who remains the prime suspect). Now grown, the daughter just wants closure - and, hopefully, restoring her father's once good name. Early in her investigation, she reasons that one of the stories Lisa was working on at the time she went missing might have triggered retaliation from someone who didn't want to be outed. The most likely possibility, it seems, was a suspected police drug task force scandal that could have brought down the entire department. If that's the case, there's a potential problem; some of her trusted friends were around back then. Is it possible they knew something, or worse, were in on it?

Still, Tracy perseveres, searching for and meeting up with some of the players mentioned in the meager police records of the task force's activities. Here and there, clues pop up to make her investigative nose start twitching, but there's nothing substantive that could lead to solving the case. Until there is; one big clue turns up in a California city - one that changes the intensity and course of the investigation as well as angers Tracy's boss and threatens a couple of long-standing friendships.

There's plenty of action throughout, although I did find the epilogue a bit abrupt as it brought an otherwise exciting story to a sort of "blah" end. Still, I'm already looking forward to the next installment - and I once again thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy of this one. Great series (start at the beginning and you won't be sorry), highly recommended!

What She Found by Robert Dugoni (Thomas & Mercer, August 2022); 343 pp.