TAKEN BY THE WIND

The case of two missing boys forces a community to face the possibility that they may be gone for good.

When they decided to take some time from their marriage, Eric and Andrew still tried to make sure their teenage son Jack wasn’t traumatized by their escalating domestic drama. The two are both shocked, then, when Jack and his cousin Gabriel go missing after a backyard sleepover and even more surprised when the police suggest that the two boys may have run away rather than been kidnapped. When this theory stalls the investigation, the former couple turns to their friend, restaurateur and newly licensed investigator Jane Lawless (Rest For the Wicked, 2012, etc.), to pick up the slack. Jane revisits the last place the boys were seen in hopes of turning up evidence, but she’s no more inspired than the police. Her personal life has become equally enigmatic since Avi, her latest flame, has put Jane in the unaccustomed position of being more interested in the relationship than her partner. Things get even more complicated when Jane’s ex, Dr. Julia Martinsen, shows up. Julia’s never been the most stable personality, and now she has her eyes set on meddling in Jane’s otherwise happy relationship.

A judicious balance of long-term development and short-term storytelling; even readers who come for the ongoing characters will stay for the mystery.