Mercy Creek by M.E. Browning

Series Name: Jo Wyatt Mystery #2
Genre: Police Procedural
Release: October 12, 2021
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In an idyllic Colorado town, a young girl goes missing—and the trail leads into the heart and mind of a remorseless killer.

The late summer heat in Echo Valley, Colorado turns lush greenery into a tinder dry landscape. When a young girl mysteriously disappears, long buried grudges rekindle. Of the two Flores girls, Marisa was the one people pegged for trouble. Her younger sister, Lena, was the quiet daughter, dutiful and diligent—right until the moment she vanished.

Detective Jo Wyatt is convinced the eleven-year-old girl didn’t run away and that a more sinister reason lurks behind her disappearance. For Jo, the case is personal, reaching far back into her past. But as she mines Lena’s fractured family life, she unearths a cache of secrets and half-lies that paints a darker picture.

As the evidence mounts, so do the suspects, and when a witness steps forward with a shocking new revelation, Jo is forced to confront her doubts, and her worst fears. Now, it’s just a matter of time before the truth is revealed—or the killer makes another deadly move.

Dru’s Short Musing:
This was an intensifying drama that I could not put down, quickly becoming a page-turner as I had to know how this was going to end. The author knows how to tell a story that encapsulates a variety of emotions from fear to heartbreak to salvation and to resolution. Every step taken brought up long ago occurrences that set the stage for what was yet to come. Watching the scenarios play out in this gripping tale kept me in the game as the means-to-an-end eliminated a few of the suspects with surprising results, some that I did not see coming. Overall, this was a grippingly enticing read and I look forward to more exploits with Jo and her team.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a digital ARC of this book from the author.