Detective Quinn is on the case!

The first in an incredible 22-book (and counting) series, Vanishing Girls introduces readers to the indominable Detective Josie Quinn as she investigates a missing girl will all signs pointing towards an abduction. The first (of many) twists? Josie is suspended from the police force and shouldn't be on the case at all. Still, like any good investigator, she can't help herself. If she could, the book would be much shorter and pretty darned boring.

Set in the fictionalized small Central Pennsylvania town of Denton and its surrounding environs, the setting feels both authentic and lived-in and the characters - from protagonist Josie Quinn to the most minor, unnamed bit players - read as real flesh and blood human beings. Author Lisa Regan isn't afraid to show her character's strengths as well as their weaknesses and she does such a wonderful job showing her characters warts and all that they really come to life. This is extended by believable dialogue and motivations. Even the most unlikable characters aren't paper thin villains. Kudos to Regan for her deft narrative style and grasp of the human condition.

As for the plot, Vanishing Girls is a tightly woven page-turner. At times exhilarating and at times heartbreaking, there's plenty of pulse-thrumming action, mystifying-suspense, and grounded-police procedural to please any reader of the genre, or reader looking to wade into the genre for the first time. A Vanishing Girls reader may never look at a small town, its police force, and its denizens in quite the same way again! Vanishing Girls can be purchased here or wherever you buy your books. Four stars out of four.