Driven by a compulsion that challenges his self-control, the man calling himself Charles Milton prowls the rodeo circuit, hunting young women. He chooses those he believes are the most vulnerable, wandering alone and distracted, before he strikes. For years, he has been meticulous in his methods, abducting, murdering, and disposing of his victims while leaving no evidence of his crimes—or their identities—behind. Indigenous women have become his target of choice, knowing law enforcement’s history of ignoring their disappearances.
A cold case has just been assigned to Dan Pardee, a field officer with the newly formed Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’s Task Force. Rosa Rios, a young woman of Apache descent and one-time rodeo star, vanished three years ago. Human remains, a homicide victim burned beyond recognition, were discovered in Cochise County around the time she went missing. They have finally been confirmed to be Rosa. With Sheriff Joanna Brady’s help, Dan is determined to reopen the case and bring long-awaited justice to Rosa’s family. As the orphaned son of a murdered indigenous woman, he feels an even greater, personal obligation to capture this killer.
Joanna’s daughter Jennifer is also taking a personal interest in this case, having known Rosa from her own amateur rodeo days. Now a criminal justice major, she’s unofficially joining the investigation. And as it becomes clear that Rosa was just one victim of a serial killer, both Jennifer and Dan know they’re running out of time to catch an elusive predator who’s proven capable of getting away with murder.
Release Date: Sep 19, 2023
Series: Joanna Brady Mysteries
Book:Â 20
Publisher:Â HarperCollins
Imprint: William Morrow
Price: $14.99
Human remains have been found in Cochise County, Arizona, which means it’s a case for Sheriff Joanna Brady. It takes a while, but the remains are eventually identified as those of a missing Apache woman. Dan Pardee, the son-in-law of retired Sheriff Brandon Walker, is assigned to investigate the cause of death. Dan is a member of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’s Task Force and is determined to get justice for this young woman. He could never have predicted how complex this case would get and how so many people would come together to help solve it.
Blessing of the Lost Girls combines characters from two of the author’s series, the Sheriff Joanna Brady series and the Walker Family Novels. I’ve read almost all of the Joanna Brady books but have only read one book in the Walker series, so it took me a bit to get caught up on who was who among the characters from that series. Otherwise, it works well as a standalone. In this book, Joanna actually plays less of a role than her daughter, Jenny, who is about to graduate from college with a degree in criminal justice. It was nice seeing the valuable contributions Jenny makes to the investigation, even if it was somewhat unrealistic that a student could outthink all of the seasoned members of law enforcement involved with the case.
I enjoyed the character of Dan Pardee, who is smart and dedicated to both his job and his family. It is refreshing that Dan has a supportive boss who backs his decisions and requests so the case can progress. The plot is interesting, seeing how the investigation unfolds. There are chapters told from the killer’s point-of-view, and his name is given near the beginning, so this isn’t a “whodunnit” but instead a cat-and-mouse chase between a predator and law enforcement. I also enjoyed the Arizona setting. I was familiar with some of the places, but the author’s descriptions are so vivid I could clearly picture even those I have never seen.
The author took a unique approach to the book by including some ancient stories from Arizona’s Tohono O’odham (translated as Desert People) Nation at the beginning of some of the chapters. The author gives interesting background information about these stories in the back of the book. She said she hoped readers wouldn’t skip over them to get to the main story, and I am glad I didn’t. In fact, one of the stories about “Beautiful Girl” and her brother “Hunter” was so good I actually wanted the chapters with only the main plot to move faster so I could find out what happened next with Beautiful Girl. The book as a whole comes to a satisfying conclusion, and I would be interested in reading more books featuring Dan Pardee.
~ Christine
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