#Review - Little Girl Vanished by Denise Grover Swank #Mystery #Suspense

Series: Harper Adams # 1
Format: EBook, 385 pages
Release Date: June 20, 2023
Publisher: DGS
Source: NetGalley
Genre: Mystery / Suspense

With a friend’s child missing, and the police failing, disgraced ex-detective Harper enlists the aid of a former crime boss to untangle a mystery that strikes too close to home.

Disgraced, ex-detective Harper Adams is perfectly content wallowing at rock bottom. She’s lost her job, house, and reputation, and it only gets worse when she’s forced to move back home to Jackson Creek, Arkansas, the one place she swore she’d never return.

But everything changes when she gets chilling news. A childhood friend’s daughter is missing…and it’s eerily reminiscent of Harper’s sister’s kidnapping and murder two decades ago.

Not her business.

Except with the police fumbling the case at every turn, Harper realizes she might be the only one who can save the girl.

And she might need the help of James "Skeeter" Malcolm a former crime boss to do it. 

Little Girl Vanished, by author Denise Grover Swank, is the first installment in the authors Harper Adams series. 36-year-old Harper Adams is a former detective in Little Rock who shot and killed a suspect 4 months ago who shot at her first. Because no weapon was found, Harper was charged with second degree murder. She lost her job, her home, her reputation, and everyone truly believes that she got away with murder after being found not guilty. Harper was forced to move back to her home town where she currently takes up space in an apartment over her parents garage.

Harper is by all accounts, an alcoholic who has lost the reason for living. 20 years ago, her younger sister was kidnapped at gun point, and later murdered. The police believe that Harper could have done more to save her sister, including the Chief of Police who is still on the job. Enter James "Skeeter" Malcolm a former Fenton County crime boss who allegedly first appeared in the authors Rose Gardner Investigations. For most of the story, Malcolm is more of a thorn in Harper's side than a person who she could find any connection to. 

So, when there appears to be yet another kidnapping just 2 short weeks after Harper returned home, trouble once again appears to be following Harper where ever she goes. What's even more suspicious is that the kidnapped girl, Ava, is the daughter of Harper's sister's best friend Vanessa Peterman. With her sisters kidnapper and apparent killer behind bars, could this be a copycat? Could the kidnapper be sending Harper herself a message that she should have been the one taken, not her sister? As for Malcolm, he's basically a thorn in everyone's side including Chief Larson who wants Malcom behind bars. 

Someone, it appears, is going to great lengths to make it seem as though Harper is not only a murderer, but she's not wanted in Lone County. That includes Harper's own mother who seems especially sad to see how Harper turned out. I am going to differ from most reviewers so I beg your indulgence. I think Harper has severe case of PTSD that has not been healed. The more she drinks, the more she ignores the fact that her life was destroyed in a moment's notice and now it appears that someone wants to finish what they started 20 years ago. 

Fact is that I did not read the authors previous series with Malcolm in it so I don't know his past, nor does the author address it fully in this book which is fair. In this book, he is the bad guy who tries to do good, but has numerous people trying to take him down. Malcolm, however, may be Harper's only ally whether she wants him around or not. Harper has to find Vanessa's daughter quickly or face another shocking loss of life that may shatter what hope she has of finding happiness.  

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