Three Girls Gone by Carolyn Arnold – a Review
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Description:
The girl in the ballerina dress lies still on the carousel with her face toward the blue sky. In her tutu and slippers, she’s ready for her next performance. But as the morning sun shines down upon her, she no longer feels its warmth on her cheeks. Her bright light is gone forever.
When the body of Hailey Tanner is found in a local park, Detective Amanda Steele races to the scene. Interviewing her devastated parents, they confirm that Hailey never made it home from her dance class. Searching for clues in the family home, Amanda discovers that some ballet clothing was taken from Hailey’s room. Could the killer have been close to her?
As Amanda and Trent question potential suspects, they’re painfully reminded of a similar case. Julie Gilbert, another gifted performer, was murdered in exactly the same way twelve years ago. Amanda’s former colleague, Katherine Graves, never gave up hope of bringing the killer to justice and now with a clear link between the two victims, she steps back into the investigation.
But she’s soon warned off when a threatening note is found in the hem of Hailey’s dress. “This girl’s your fault. Stop looking or there will be more.”
With boxes of evidence files and potential leads, Amanda knows that Katherine must have been getting close, but when a third girl is taken soon after, the clock starts ticking again. There’s no way Amanda will let another child suffer at the hands of this twisted killer. But how much will the team be prepared to sacrifice, and can they save this girl before it’s too late?
Review:
Three Girls Gone by Carolyn Arnold is the 14th book in her fabulous Detective Amanda Steele series. Refresher: As I have noted previously, I am a big fan of Arnold, having read most of her books, and I love this series, which continues with another fantastic addition. Amanda Steele, our heroine, is a homicide detective in Prince William County, Virginia.
A young girl is found dead, and her body is dressed in a ballerina tutu. Amanda and her partner, Trent, are on the case; which was previously under the jurisdiction of the Missing Persons Dept. Amanda is a strong protagonist who navigates the web of grief, suspicion, and danger as she investigates the tragic murder of Hailey Tanner.
The six-year-old girl, who was missing, has now been found murdered on a carousel in the park. In a short time, clues will lead them to their friend Katherine, who is a retired cop at NYPD. They discover a connection with a twelve-year-old case in which another child was taken and murdered. Katherine was in charge of the case 12 years ago, which still haunts her, and the new similarities are very close to the cold case, and Amanda manages to get authority for Katherine to help find who was the killer 12 years ago, and the girl just murdered.
Amanda, Trent and Katherine work together to try and connect the murder years ago, and finding clues to the 6 years old girl’s death; as both cases were very similar. Another girl goes missing, with all of them determined to find the clues, before the third girl is killed. Can they find third girl before it’s too late.
Three Girls Gone is an addictive thriller from start to finish: the suspense and emotion is intense throughout. Three Girls Gone is an exciting, fast paced, suspenseful, compelling, intriguing, tense mystery, that kept me unable to put the book down, as this was another fantastic thriller. This was another gripping addition to the Detective Amanda Steele series. Another wonderful police procedural, with great characters, edge of your seat thriller, with some twists and surprises at the end. Three Girls Gone was once again so very well written by Carolyn Arnold, which is the norm for this author. If you like mystery thrillers, police procedural, then you need to be reading this series.
Reviewed by Barb
Copy provided by Publisher
She currently lives near London, Ontario, Canada with her husband and two beagles.
