The Shadow Girl, book three in Shannon Hollinger's Detective Maggie Riley series, transports readers back to Coyote Cove, a small rural town in Maine. A town where persons with secrets seek solace. Hollinger weaved a tale filled with suspense and mystery to keep readers guessing from start to finish.
Firstly, I recommend reading the books in order of release. Although each book features a different mystery, there is an overarching series thread which needs to be followed sequentially. In this instalment, Maggie faces her biggest challenge since taking up the post as police chief in Coyote Cove. The discovery of the body of a teenage girl who went missing two years ago hook her to the core. Solving murders was out of her jurisdiction, leaving her to rely on the State police to solve the murder. However, the discovery of a Polaroid photo indicating that another teenage girl is missing led Maggie on a desperate search to find the teen before it's too late.
This was another intense and riveting tale. It featured a large suspect pool and wading through the lot proved a challenge. Fortunately for Maggie, she had help in the form of her new lieutenant, Kal. Although new to the series, he proved to be a great addition to the cast of characters. Like his boss and her fiancée, Steve, he too had his secrets. Secrets which fuelled his decision to accept the position as the new lieutenant in Coyote Cove. It would seem that Steve's secrets were about ready to explode in his face. The major questions on the mind of the reader were:
1. What impact will the revelation have on his relationship with Maggie?
2. What steps will he take for those secrets to remain hidden?
Hopefully it works out for him because secrets aside, I believe he is perfect for Maggie.
As Maggie steps up the search to find the girl in the Polaroid photo, she discovers a connection to the murdered teen. This case hit rather close to home for Maggi. This led to her engaging every possible method to find the missing teen. Unlike the first instalment, The Girl Who Lied, the mystery in The Shadow Girl was twisty and a challenge to solve. The story highlighted the impact of adults' failure to protect the children in their care.
The Shadow Girl was an addictive and fast-paced crime thriller. The unresolved issues from the secrets shrouding Maggie, Steve and Kal leaves no doubts in the reader's mind that there is more to come. As such, one will be waiting eagerly for the next book in the series. Fans of police procedurals will find this series intriguing.