Veena’s review of When All the Girls Have Gone by Jayne Ann Krentz
Romantic Suspense published by Berkley 29 Nov 16
This book is quintessential Jayne An Krentz, featuring her trademark suspense mixed with a slow-warming romance. Max and Charlotte meet over a murder staged to look like a suicide. Soon they’re bonding over a rising count of dead bodies and missing women, with Max determined to prevent Charlotte from being a statistic herself. This is a well-written murder mystery with a lot of different suspects and the right type of pacing.
Max Cutler is a new business owner, having moved to Seattle, leaving behind the stressful job of chasing serial killers – only to pick up a case involving a murder staged to look like a suicide. The victim is Charlotte’s sister’s best friend, and, chasing down instructions from her sister, Charlotte soon appears at the scene of the crime. Max forthwith removes her from his suspect list and teams up with her to locate her sister and chase down clues to his murder investigation.
Their search takes them to the close-knit group of women who run an investment club together. Jocelyn has disappeared, and soon a second dead body turns up with a suspect robbery shooting and they barely save a third. What is the investment club dabbling in that is so dangerous that has left two women dead, one in critical care and one fallen off the grid? Clues indicate that the roots of this might trace all the way back to Charlotte’s sister’s rape during her college years. Chasing clues back to the university town, Max and Charlotte barely escape with their lives.
The story builds at a nice pace, revealing clues that help peel away the outer layers, taking the reader right to the heart of the mystery. The intimacy between Max and Charlotte also deepens at a slowly measured pace. The assisted living facility and the seniors who Charlotte cares for and befriends play a delightful role in the romance as well as the mystery. I love how the story opens up with one of Charlotte’s favorite senior leaders disclosing how she murdered her husband while writing her memoirs. Isn’t Charlotte going to be shocked when she learns the true story behind that story.
Fans, I think you will definitely enjoy this one. I’ve been somewhat disappointed lately with some of Ms. Krentz’s books but thi,s one really hit the right mark and reminded me of the happier times when Ms. Krentz was on my auto-buy list.
Grade: B
Summary:
When Charlotte Sawyer is unable to contact her stepsister, Jocelyn, to tell her that one of her closest friends was found dead, she discovers that Jocelyn has vanished.
Beautiful, brilliant—and reckless—Jocelyn has gone off the grid before, but never like this. In a desperate effort to find her, Charlotte joins forces with Max Cutler, a struggling PI who recently moved to Seattle after his previous career as a criminal profiler went down in flames—literally. Burned out, divorced and almost broke, Max needs the job.
After surviving a near-fatal attack, Charlotte and Max turn to Jocelyn’s closest friends, women in a Seattle-based online investment club, for answers. But what they find is chilling…
When her uneasy alliance with Max turns into a full-blown affair, Charlotte has no choice but to trust him with her life. For the shadows of Jocelyn’s past are threatening to consume her—and anyone else who gets in their way…
No excerpt available.
