Stolen Daughters by Carolyn Arnold – a Review

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Description:
The girl looked so peaceful, she could have been asleep. Except her eyes were open, blankly reflecting the flickering flames spreading towards her…

When firefighters discover the body of a teenage girl at an abandoned house, Detective Amanda Steele hurries to the scene. Dumfries, Virginia is a small town, yet no one seems to have any idea who the dead girl is until Amanda finds a dragonfly pin with the name Crystal engraved on it.

Working tirelessly, Amanda traces the pin to Crystal Foster, a thirteen-year-old who disappeared three years ago from her wealthy parents’ home. Breaking the news to the distraught parents won’t be easy, but the loss of her own daughter still haunts Amanda, and she knows this will bring them closure. But when Amanda goes to see the Fosters, they do not recognize the girl. She isn’t Crystal.

Before Amanda can react to this new development, she gets an urgent call. A fire has consumed another vacant house, and the remains of two more girls have been found. Who are these girls, and why are they being picked off? Amanda must stop this killer before the pattern continues, and the death toll climbs.

When Amanda receives a taunting note from the killer, she realizes that she holds the missing piece of this puzzle. The victims are connected to Amanda’s past, to a case she can never forget, and which almost claimed her life. As she follows the clues to their deadly conclusion, can she save more innocent lives… even if it risks her own?

Review:

Stolen Daughters by Carolyn Arnold is the 2nd book in her Detective Amanda Steele series. As I have noted before, I have been a big fan of Arnold, having read most of her series.  I feel this series is her best one yet, and love its wonderful heroine, Amanda Steele.

Amanda Steele, our heroine, is a homicide detective in Dumfries, Virginia Police Department.  She is called to the scene where a young girl’s dead body was found in an abandoned building fire.  As she and her partner, Trent begin their investigation, they discover that the girl was part of a sex trafficking ring. Shortly thereafter, a woman who had called in the fire to the police,  is also found murdered; they suspect this may be the work of a serial killer. As they interview the family of some of the missing children over the years, Amanda is consumed with finding these missing girls.

Amanda is determined to stop the killer before they kill again, but then there is another fire, with two more dead girls who were probably part of the sex trafficking; the danger escalates as the killer is now setting their site on Amanda.  How does the killer know about her past, and the deaths of her husband and daughter?

What follows is an exciting, intriguing, pulse pounding mystery that kept me unable to put the book down, especially knowing how Amanda continually put herself in danger.  We did get a POV of the killer throughout, giving us a look at his madness. To say too much more would be spoilers, and this was a very good story that needs to be read from start to finish.  I like all of the secondary characters that Arnold has created, but I was not crazy about the chief, who was trying to get rid of Amanda; even though she was their best detective.

Stolen Daughters was an excellent crime thriller that was suspenseful, dark, intense, and kept us glued to the end. Amanda, Trent & Sergeant made an excellent team.   I really liked Amanda, as she was a great heroine, and a fantastic detective.  Stolen Daughters was so very well written by Carolyn Arnold, and I cannot wait to see what she has in store for us in future books, especially with the surprise ending. If you like mystery thrillers, police procedural, then you need to be reading this book.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy supplied for Review