7. Dark Highway by Lisa Gray

#3 Jessica Gray

listened on Audible

2020
318 pgs.
Adult Mystery
Finished 1/19/23
Goodreads rating: 4.40
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary 29 Palms Highway, California

My comments: Third in the Jessica Shaw, Private Detective, series. A great protagonist - smart, lots of emotional baggage but devoid of physical baggage… she practically lives out of her car. Set in 29 Palms, California, it‘s about the disappearance/abduction of several women and goes back and forth between time periods and voices. I liked it a lot and could clearly picture it because I‘ve visited this area several times. Good one!

Goodreads synopsis:  LA-based artist Laurie Simmonds disappeared two months ago, her campervan abandoned on the isolated Twentynine Palms Highway, miles from anything—or anyone. With the police investigation stalled, her parents put all their faith in private investigator Jessica Shaw to find out the truth of what happened.

Jessica and her partner Matt Connor discover that two other women are missing, their disappearances connected to the same highway. When a link emerges between these women and a group of former college friends, Jessica feels certain they’re closing in on their target.

But no sooner do they follow this up than Laurie’s parents get spooked and drop the case. Jessica is blindsided but determined not to give up: three women are missing, and many more may be at risk. She can’t turn her back on them. But the more she pulls at the threads of the truth, the closer she comes to danger. Can she find out who’s behind these crimes before they come for her?