#Review - No One Saw by Beverly Long #Mystery #Suspense

Series: A.L. McKittridge Novel (#2)
Format: Paperback, 384 pages
Release Date: June 30, 2020
Publisher: MIRA
Source: Library
Genre: Mystery / Suspense

Nobody saw a thing. Or so they say…

Baywood police department detective A.L. McKittridge is no stranger to tough cases, but when five-year-old Emma Whitman disappears from her day care, there isn’t a single shred of evidence to go on. Neither the grandmother who dropped her off, nor the teacher whose care she was supposed to be in, can account for the missing child. There are no witnesses. No trace of where she might have gone. There’s only one thing A.L. and his partner, Rena Morgan, are sure of—somebody is lying.

With the clock ticking, A.L. and Rena are under extreme pressure as they discover their instincts are correct: all is not as it seems. The Whitmans are a family with many secrets, and A.L. and Rena will have to race to untangle a growing web of lies if they’re going to find the thread that leads them to Emma…before it’s too late.  

No One Saw, by author Beverly Long, is the second installment in the authors A.L. McKittridge series. While the series is named after one of the cops, the story really involves two homicide partners, McKittridge and Rena Morgan. As the story opens, McKittridge has returned from a week away with his new girlfriend Jess and is thrust into a missing child case of a (5) year old Emma Whitman. Earlier that day, Emma was dropped off by her grandmother at the Lakeside Learning Center but 10 hours later, nobody claims to have seen the girl.

The grandmother claims she signed the sheet when she dropped her off. One of her teachers, however, claims she never saw Emma. Did someone take the child, or did she just walk away. Who is telling the truth? The grandmother? The teachers? The parents? What really happened to Emma Whitman? While investigating Emma's disappearance, the detectives discover a similar disappearance happened 10 years ago to another child at a day care center. She has not been found to this day.

Could the two cases, with eerily similar MO be connected? Could solving one, solve the other? McKittridge and Rena find themselves suspecting so many different people, as there are many twists and turns along the way. The Whitman's (mother, father, grandmother) have their own secrets, as well as those at the day care, and other places involving family places of employment. With all of these reveals and suspects, we are constantly on our toes trying to guess who kidnapped Emma and pray that something bad doesn't happen in the meantime.

While this is mostly a police procedural story, the author does a good job of getting to know McKittridge and Morgan. A.L. no we don't know his real name, is a divorcee with a 17-year-old daughter who is growing up quickly. His relationship with Jess, who lost her arm in a freak accident, is fresh, and he doesn't want to do anything stupid to cause it to end before it can get going. Rena has been trying to get pregnant with her husband for a very long time now and her clock is ticking before she has to make a choice whether to use a surrogate or come to the realization that adoption may be her only choice. I really like their partnership because they give as best as they get. They can focus on the investigation at hand, but that doesn't mean that they are cold stone robots without any emotions. 

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#Review - Ten Days Gone by Beverly Long #Thrillers #Suspense

Series: A.L. McKittridge #1
Format: Mass Market, 384 pages
Release Date: February 18, 2020
Publisher: MIRA
Source: Publisher
Genre: Thrillers / Suspense

Beverly Long brings her talents to Mira with the story of a serial killer stalking women in small-town Wisconsin and the detective partners, who will continue to feature in other books, determined to stop him. An A.L. McKittridge Novel.

They know exactly when he’ll strike… They just have to find him first.

In all their years working for the Baywood police department, detectives A.L. McKittridge and Rena Morgan have never seen anything like it. Four women dead in forty days, each killed ten days apart. With nothing connecting the victims and very little evidence, the clock is already counting down to when the next body drops. A.L. and Rena will have to act fast if they’re going to find the killer’s next victim before he does.

But identifying the killer’s next likely target is only half the battle. With pressure pushing in from all sides, a promising breakthrough leads the detectives to Tess Lyons, a woman whose past trauma has left her too damaged to appreciate the danger she’s in. Unwilling to let another woman die, A.L. and Rena will put everything on the line to keep Tess safe and end the killer’s deadly spree once and for all—before time runs out again.

Ten Days Gone is the first installment in the A.L. McKittridge series by author Beverly Long. This book is organized by a timeline counting from day one to day ten until either the detectives capture the serial killer or another woman dies. Baywood, Wisconsin Police Detectives A.L. McKittridge and his partner Rena Morgan are on the case of a serial killer. 4 women have been murdered in 40 days. As the title indicates, the killer strikes every 10 days. With nothing connecting the victims and very little evidence, the clock is already counting down to when the next body drops. A.L. and Rena will have to act fast if they’re going to find the killer’s next victim before he does.

I should state for the record that this isn't A.L.'s story to tell. It is also Rena's as well as the would be fifth victim's which I won't spoil. Rena has been A.L's partner long enough to understand him well. Rena is also dealing with trying to get pregnant using the last scientific procedures. She's also dealing with her husband, Gabe, who seems to be wandering. Whether or not that's the truth leads to some pressure points being pushed on Rena's life and as a cop. There are loads of characters in this book and I don’t think we really got to fully know any of them. I’m not sure if that was intentional or not. 

There's A.L.'s ex wife who may be dating again, his teenaged daughter who is acting out a bit, his sister is an alcoholic who refuses to accept any help, A.L's love life seems to be focused on having fun and not committing to another long term commitment. This leads to his connection with a possible murder victim who has deep rooted PTSD after losing her arm in a shark attack. The partnership between Rena and A.L. works well. There's never any judgmental comments. There's respect in understanding that they both know the job and no moral superiority just because A.L. is a man and Rena is a woman. I like them as partners as they have sort of a yin yang relationship that worked extremely well in every aspect while maintaining proper boundaries.

The unfolding of the clues and the way the villain is revealed are both handled well and and ending is very satisfying. I didn't know this was part of a series until I had finished the book. The detectives’ personal lives are woven in with the investigation. The detective’s lives are realistic. They work hard which affects their personal lives which are complicated (just like real people). I have already requested the sequel and should it be approved or denied, I will be continuing this series. Also, we do not get to find out what A.L. stands for which is a mystery in itself. One of the serial killers targets tries hard to guess without any success.

 

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