The missing ones

Three horrified children witness the burial of another child in the disturbing opening to this series. Decades later, investigator Det.Lottie Parker is called to solve the murder of a young woman found strangled to death with her iPod cord in a cathedral. Just hours later, another crime scene has a local young man hanging from a tree outside his home. At first, the crimes appear unrelated, but then a strange tattoo is found on the legs of both victims. Lottie, a widowed mother of three, soon finds links in the investigation that tie in to her own family history with St. Angela's, a home for wayward children that is now closed. Unfortunately, the killer is not finished yet, and two teenage boys disappear. Lottie is up against a very cold, calculating individual with a twisted sense of justice. VERDICT Irish author Gibney's U.S. debut is a great addition to the crime fiction genre. Readers looking for strong characters with fleshed-out backgrounds, well-drawn small-town Irish settings, and intense, slow-burn pacing will definitely want to add this series to their reading lists.--Bill Anderson, Scott County P.L., Scottsburg, IN