Review for No Known Address by Jo A. Hiestand

No Known Address

By Jo A. Hiestand

The McLaren Mysteries, Book 6

Publisher:  The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

Release Date: October 7, 2016

Genre: British Mystery

Length: 258 Pages

ISBN: 978-1-5092-1020-6

ASIN: B01L5S1S10

Buy Links:  Kindle | Nook | Chapters | Wild Rose Print | Wild Rose eBook  

About the book:

Luke Barber went missing from his village, leaving no clue to his whereabouts or why he left. Now, three years later, Luke’s father hopes ex-cop Michael McLaren can find a trace of Luke, alive or dead.

As McLaren pokes through the case details, he wonders if the pressure of succeeding in tennis or music, or his upcoming marriage, was too much for the lad and he simply ran away. And McLaren’s suspicion may be correct, for he soon is assaulted and left for dead—a hint that he’s upset someone connected with this case.

McLaren unearths the lies and false identity shoved at him, and uncovers what became of Luke, a discovery aided by idolatrous love and an ancient stone man.

An unsolved cold case, music and the British countryside take center stage in Jo A. Hiestand’s No Known Address.  An established central character, colorful secondary characters and an interesting mystery kept me turning the pages from start to finish. If you enjoy reading mysteries, this is a book you will no doubt enjoy.

Former cop turned private investigator, Michael McLaren finds himself drawn into a cold case as a favor to a friend; a three year old missing person’s case.  Luke Barber, the son of a farmer in a local village, disappeared from his home one afternoon and hasn’t been heard from since. Unhappy with the lack of results in his son’s case, Gary Barber just wants to know if his son is dead or alive.  Will Michael be able to give him some kind of closure? 

Ms. Hiestand does a good job introducing established and new characters throughout the story. Though this is the sixth book in the series, and only the 2^nd book I’ve read by this author, I easily connected with Michael as he investigated Luke’s disappearance. Ms. Hiestand continues to develop his skills as a private investigator and also addresses all of his emotional issues, both from leaving his job as a cop and his fears of abandonment.   

The secondary characters, both recurring and new, are well developed and I especially enjoyed getting to know both Jamie, a cop and Michael’s best friend, and Dena, Michael’s sort of fiancée (you’ll have to read the book to find out why I say sort of) better.  The villagers are typical for what you would expect in a small town and as Michael digs deeper into Luke’s disappearance he realizes that not all of them liked Luke as much as they first claimed and soon he has more than a handful of suspects and possible motives for Luke’s disappearance.

The mystery portion is very well written and takes several unexpected twists and turns.  You get the sense that something sinister has happened to Luke from the very beginning and I never believed that he “ran away” because of the items left behind.  There is also an element of danger to the investigation, which escalates as Michael’s investigation uncovers village secrets.  The story’s pace is somewhat slow at the very beginning and I did have to push through the first couple of chapters as Ms. Hiestand establishes the setting, but once Michael begins asking questions, the pace picks up and I found myself turning the pages to discover what would happen next.

Will Michael discover what happened to Luke Barber three years ago?  Will his search for the truth put his life, or the lives of his closest and dearest, in danger?  You’ll have to read No Known Address to find out, I enjoyed it and can’t wait to see what future investigations Ms. Hiestand involves Michael in.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Crowns     

FTC Disclosure:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author, as a part of a book tour, for a fair and honest review. My opinion is based on the reading material provided. 

Check out my tour stop, with Giveaway, here.