HUSBAND MISSING

4 stars out of 5

Let me get to the nitty-gritty right away: The missing husband, as loyal readers of this series (like me) would suspect, is Denton, Pa., police detective Josie Quinn's hunky police officer husband Noah Fraley. One not-so-fine day, she returns home from a murder scene to find their home totally ransacked, blood everywhere and Noah gone. Alas, Josie isn't the only one to miss him - he's a major reason I love the series, so not having him around was more than a small disappointment. And after awhile, reading about his absence started to get a bit tedious; put another way, I can count too, so I really didn't need an update on how long he's been gone on every third page.

Nitpicking aside, I will say that the happenings in this book bring a good measure of closure to Josie's horrific life before the police department and Noah (after 21 previous books, long-time readers will be familiar with her story and reconnection with her twin sister Trinity Payne as adults). Trinity, a well-known TV journalist who's engaged to FBI agent Drake Nally, of course is around to lend support and investigative expertise to her sister - as is the usual police force team that includes the rather obnoxious officer Kyle Turner (though here, too, the ongoing snarkiness between Kyle and Josie got old fast).

Josie herself is officially sidelined throughout most of the book, given her connection to Noah (she can't be the one leading the investigation to find her own husband). Then, the case she was called to right before returning to her ransacked home takes a turn for the bizzare. At the scene, the daughter of a prominent contractor is killed, and prints are found. Great for helping find the killer, perhaps, but for Josie, not so much; the prints match those found in the mess at her place. Whoops - off the case she goes once again.

Josie being Josie, of course, she manages to call in a few favors and do some surreptitious digging around on her own (in between telling readers how long Noah has been missing and trading barbs with Kyle). Finally, the whole thing - which is directly tied to the mother Josie knew to be a monster - comes together to reach a rather surprising conclusion. As for Noah, nope, you ain't gonna hear it from me. Go read the book for yourself!

Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with a pre-release copy - I enjoyed it and look forward to the next one!

Husband Missing by Lisa Regan (Bookouture, March 2025); 423 pp.