Gone for Good by Joanna Schaffhausen @slipperywhisper @MinotaurBooks @AudiobookMel

Gone For Good is the first in a new mystery series from award-winning author Joanna Schaffhausen, featuring Detective Annalisa Vega, in which a cold case heats up.

The Lovelorn Killer murdered seven women, ritually binding them and leaving them for dead before penning them gruesome love letters in the local papers. Then he disappeared, and after twenty years with no trace of him, many believe that he’s gone for good.

Not Grace Harper. A grocery store manager by day, at night Grace uses her snooping skills as part of an amateur sleuth group. She believes the Lovelorn Killer is still living in the same neighborhoods that he hunted in, and if she can figure out how he selected his victims, she will have the key to his identity.

Detective Annalisa Vega lost someone she loved to the killer. Now she’s at a murder scene with the worst kind of déjà vu: Grace Harper lies bound and dead on the floor, surrounded by clues to the biggest murder case that Chicago homicide never solved. Annalisa has the chance to make it right and to heal her family, but first, she has to figure out what Grace knew—how to see a killer who may be standing right in front of you. This means tracing his steps back to her childhood, peering into dark corners she hadn’t acknowledged before, and learning that despite everything the killer took, she has still so much more to lose.

Gone for Good looks at a homicide killer that disappeared for many years and now is back to killing. And Annalisa has a tie to this killer. This killer murdered Annalisa’s high school boyfriend’s mother. The boyfriend just leaves, not able to deal with life in the town. And Annalisa doesn’t ever get over him leaving. Then you bring in amateur online sleuths who anger the killer. And there’s plenty going on.

Annalisa is a good character. I really enjoyed the time I spent with her in this book. I do feel for her for not wanting to let the love of her life go, even after he’s been so broken. But I also thought she didn’t give her current ex-husband a chance. I really liked him and thought she should give him more time.

I had a good time with this story. I don’t think it is on par with Will Trent, but that is a very high bar in my opinion. I enjoyed this story enough that I downloaded and read the next book in the series. I’ve now read two books in this series. There’s a third book out now and a fourth up for preorder. I’m normally an audiobook listener mostly, but I read a lot when I’m at the cabin. The narrator for this series is new-to-me, so I don’t know if I’ll try the audiobooks or save these two stories for my next trip to the cabin next year.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Follow me

Melanie

I’m Melanie, and I like to live vicariously through fictional characters. I enjoy reading and listening to mostly fictional books in the paranormal genre, including Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance and Horror. I will read contemporary romance on occasion, but not often. I will occasionally throw in a biography, usually autobiographies of people that I find interesting. Listening to autobiographies that are narrated by the author have been great in my experience.

I started listening to audiobooks when a new book in a series was coming out and I wanted to get a refresher, but didn’t have time to read all the books (I think it was Anita Blake). I fell in love. I stayed with strictly re-reading books that I’d already read for a long time. I eventually tried an audiobook for something that I hadn’t read first and was hooked there too. Now, I listen to audio for both re-reads and first time. I have some series that I’ve given up reading and only listen. I try to get any many books/audiobooks from the library to help save on my budget. Books on CD and the newer digital downloads from the library really allow me to listen more. I then purchase my favorites (because who can wait in line for your favorite book??) and less mainstream books from Audible or some other online retailer.

Friend me at Goodreads.

Follow me

Latest posts by Melanie (see all)

• Known to the Victim by K.L. Armstrong @KelleyArmstrong@doubledayca@AudiobookMel - September 27, 2024
• Gone for Good by Joanna Schaffhausen @slipperywhisper @MinotaurBooks @AudiobookMel - September 13, 2024
• Alone by Lisa Gardner @LisaGardnerBks #BantamBooks @AudiobookMel - August 23, 2024

Please follow and like us:

Related Posts

• Same Genre

Audio: Expire by Danielle Girard

🎧 The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

North of Nowhere by Allison Brennan

🎧 The Stolen Hours by Allen Eskens

The Shadows We Hide by Allen Eskens