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Published Aug 2021
304 pages
Genre: Mysteries
Publication Information
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.
"Excellent fair-play plotting, genuine surprises, and convincing characters make this a surefire winner. Mystery fans are in for a treat." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Schaffhausen...seamlessly weaves past and present together and easily manipulates strong romantic and family-loyalty subplots...in this strong series debut."- Booklist (starred review)
"Schaffhausen combines familiar tropes in an unsubtle but arresting way and concisely fleshes out the supporting cast...Visceral chills, a colorful cast, and a handful of effective twists add up to a promising series debut." - Kirkus Reviews
"Annalisa Vega is the detective you've been waiting for. A second generation Chicago cop, she has the chops to take on a serial killer, a large family to keep her grounded, and personal experience with the secrets behind closed doors." - Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"Gone for Good is a riveting exploration into the dark heart of violent crime and the scars it leaves behind. Joanna Schaffhausen is a master of the craft." - Carol Goodman, New York Times bestselling author of The Lake of Dead Languages and The Sea of Lost Girls
This information about Gone for Good was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Joanna Schaffhausen wields a mean scalpel, skills developed in her years studying neuroscience. She has a doctorate in psychology, which reflects her long-standing interest in the brain―how it develops and the many ways it can go wrong. Previously, she worked for ABC News, writing for programs such as World News Tonight, Good Morning America, and 20/20. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and daughter. She is the author of The Vanishing Season and Gone for Good.
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