Through swirling dawn fog, they follow the trail of discarded items at their feet: a tube of glittery lip gloss; a cell phone; a cracked make-up compact, broken chunks of ivory powder spilling into the grass. Then the mist parts—just for a second—to reveal a beautiful young girl on the ground, her pale lips frozen forever in a silent scream…

On a winding mountain road into the small town of Denton, Pennsylvania, Detective Josie Quinn finds the body of a local teenage girl, Dina Hale. The sight of plum-colored bruises gathering around the girl’s neck pierces Josie’s heart, but the discovery of a second girl’s empty purse in the dirt nearby gives her a flicker of hope that one person, at least, made a lucky escape.

Dina’s parents are grief-stricken as the town rallies together in a desperate search for the second girl, Alison Mills, who waitressed with Dina at a local hotel. The two best friends were on their way to a shift when they were attacked. Josie was too late to save Dina, but she won’t rest until Alison is home safe.

Hitting a dead-end with interviews, Josie thinks she’s on to something when a photo surfaces suggesting Alison was romantically involved with one of the hotel staff. But when Josie arrives at the man’s house to find a bullet in his head, and the house ransacked, the case comes crashing down.

Evidence of frantic searching at both crime scenes has Josie convinced a twisted killer is on a hunt for something very personal and precious. And that they won’t stop until they find it. But how many innocent lives will be destroyed before Josie can uncover the missing piece at the heart of this deadly puzzle? And what sacrifices will she have to make to find Alison alive?

Riveting from start to finish! I’ll admit that I’m late to the party with the Detective Josie Quinn series from Lisa Regan, but in preparation of this intriguing new release I started back at the beginning and binge read the entire series leading up to this fifteenth book in the addictive series. The core characters are hard-working, sincere cops who put their heart and soul into their work and each end up having their turn for drama and intrigue in their own personal life as the series plays out. This particular book brought us into the heart of the case right from the start with a turn of events that sets the stage for murder and mystery as they hunt through clues to find the bad guys. Addictive and satisfying!

I highly recommend this book as well as the entire series to anyone that likes a close knit group of cops that put their lives on hold day in and day out to get out there and solve crimes. The storylines are always a mystery from beginning to end with drama galore and good friends and family playing a core part.