Thank you Minotaur Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Dead and Gone in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: August 8, 2023
Summary:
The next installment of Joanna Schaffhausen’s critically acclaimed Detective Annalisa Vega series.
For Chicago police detective Annalisa Vega, Sam Tran’s death presents an ominous puzzle. The ex-cop turned PI is found hanging from a cemetery tree with a message across his chest that suggests someone holds a murderous grudge against the police. Annalisa suspects the real answer lies in one of Tran’s open cases. She believes he stumbled on a dark secret during his investigations and someone killed him to keep him quiet. Her own family harbors plenty of secrets, something Annalisa is reminded of when her brother turns out to be one of Sam’s last clients.
Vinny Vega hired Tran to find a dangerous stalker on his daughter’s college campus. Now Sam is dead and the stalker remains at large, with Annalisa’s niece Quinn firmly in his sights.
To protect Quinn, Annalisa begins tracing Sam’s steps back through his open cases, which include not only the campus stalker but also a brutal double homicide from twenty years ago. Did Sam finally find the killer? Did he uncover the stalker’s identity? Annalisa must figure out which secret got Sam killed, and fast, or someone else will die. Every move she makes brings her closer to the truth of Sam’s death, and closer to a murderer who will stop at nothing to remain free.
My thoughts:
This is the third book in Joanna Schaffhausen’s Detective Annalisa Vega series and I was so excited to get this book. I first became a fan of this author when I discovered her Elle Hathaway series and I am loving this new series just as much!
I love police procedurals and this one is so well-written and engaging. While it can be read as a standalone, I do of course recommend reading the previous books in the series. It really will give you a better feel for the character dynamics that are in play, not only concerning Annalisa, but also a few other key characters.
In this particular installment, we find Annalisa given a case that turns into multiple cases. I loved that each was pretty intricate and complex, keeping me on my toes the entire time. There were quite a lot of red herrings along the way and I found myself constantly rechecking my guesses as to what was really going on.
There are a lot of moving parts to this story but of course, my favorite was the character development. This is why I love reading series. Annalisa is one of my favorite characters and I love that we got more of her and Nick in this installment. There were some big developments here and I need the next book ASAP!!!
Books in this series:
- Gone for Good
- Long Gone
- Dead and Gone
- All the Way Gone – due out August 2024
