Mystery/Thriller -- 3 stars
After a personal tragedy, Anna Hart has left her job as a missing persons detective and fled to Mendocino where she lived as a young girl. When she arrives, she finds her job seems to have followed her. A girl is missing, and she ends up in the middle of the investigation even as it brings back memories of a similar disappearance during Anna's past in the small town.. ----- Ms. McLain manages to avoid the just-another-traumatized-detective-facing-her-demons cliche, by waiting until the end, after the mystery is solved, to explain why Anna Hart has fled to Mendocino. This choice is refreshing, leaving the reader to learn about Anna through her warm memories of the small town and the foster parents who cared for her there. The main story is moved along by a past boyfriend/now sheriff, the usual suspects and the dripping of clues--nothing terribly original, but interesting nonetheless--all culminating in a satisfying unraveling and exciting climax that brings Anna back to why she has returned to Mendocino and what she needs to do now. It is an elegantly closed circle.
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