Review: Last Seen Alive by Joanna Schaffhausen

 

Last Seen Alive (Ellery Hathaway #5) by Joanna Schaffhausen

Publication Date: January 25th 2022 by Minotaur Books

Pages: 320

Source: Publisher & Purchased Audiobook

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

I’ve been loving the Ellery Hathaway series. Book five, Last Seen Alive was an exciting installment (conclusion?) that I didn’t want to put down!

When the evil Francis Coben, Ellery’s now imprisoned captor, offers up the location of one of the murder victims never found only if Ellery comes to see him, she must facedown her tormentor.  It’s the situation I knew would come eventually and things did play out a bit predictably with Coben.  I was disappointed by TSTL moves by Ellery, and really, I wondered how she didn’t clue in on the identity of the person helping Coben!  Even with all that, the story was thrilling! I was on the edge of my seat, and I had to set everything aside so I could read through to the end!  I’m happy with how it all turned out.

There is a new mystery introduced and solved with each book, but with Ellery’s history and the progression of her relationship with Reed, (the FBI agent who originally rescued her from Coben), it’s a series best read in order.  

I went back and forth between an e-copy and audio version. Seth Podowitz did a wonderful job with both male and female voices.  I enjoyed Danielle Gensler's female voices, but wasn't thrilled with her performance of Coben's voice. Still, I'd recommend the audio version.  I listened at 1.5x normal speed.

4 Stars

Book Description:

The fifth book in Joanna Schaffhausen's heartpounding Ellery Hathaway mystery series.

Boston detective Ellery Hathaway met FBI agent Reed Markham when he pried open a serial killer’s closet to rescue her. Years on, their relationship remains defined by that moment and by Francis Coben’s horrific crimes. To free herself from Coben’s legacy, Ellery had to walk away from Reed, too. But Coben is not letting go so easily. He has an impossible proposition: Coben will finally give up the location of the remaining bodies, on one condition—Reed must bring him Ellery.

Now the families of the missing victims are crying out for justice that only Ellery can deliver. The media hungers for a sequel and Coben is their camera-ready star. He claims he is sorry and wants to make amends. But Ellery is the one living person who has seen the monster behind the mask and she doesn’t believe he can be redeemed. Not after everything he’s done. Not after what she’s been through. And certainly not after a fresh body turns up with Coben’s signature all over it.

Review: Gone for Good by Joanna Schaffhausen

Gone For Good (Annalisa Vega #1) by Joanna Schaffhausen

Publication Date: August 10th 2021 by Minotaur Books

Pages: 302

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

When Grace Harper, an amateur sleuth, is found murdered in the same way as the victims of the Lovelorn Killer, Detective Annalisa Vega is called into the case. The Lovelorn Killer, a serial murderer active twenty years earlier had the residents in Chicago afraid and alert. He murdered seven women by tying them up, strangling and reviving them over and over until finally choking them to death, but he stopped killing leading police to think he either died or went to prison for another offense.

Annalisa is no stranger to the facts of the cold case since his last victim, Katherine Duffy, was a neighbor, and mother of her first love, Colin. Soon after a grief-stricken Colin left breaking Annalisa’s heart in the process. Her own father, a retired police officer, investigated the crimes as well, but the crimes grew cold and were never solved.

Grace was a member of the Grave Diggers, a group of civilians looking into cold cases, had become obsessed with the Lovelorn Killer case and found new information that made her think she could lure the killer out and catch him. Is this the case of a copycat or is the original killer back?

Annalisa is thrust into the middle of the investigation while having to deal with her past when she’s assigned to work with Detective Nick Carelli, her ex-husband. There’s a lot of personal issues for Annalisa to deal with: her family, Nick and Colin, and things are a bit messy. I’m not sure which guy to root for yet, there are pros and cons with either one, but I’m eager to see how it plays out in future books. I want Annalisa happy!

As far as the case, for the most part I was on board with Annalisa. She did make a reckless decision that made me want to shake her, but I guess it could be chalked up to her feeling like she had no other choice. The ending left me reeling a bit. There were breadcrumbs, so I wasn’t completely blindsided, but it definitely made an impact! I look forward to the next book!

 4 Stars

Book Description:

Gone For Good is the first in a new mystery series from award-winning author Joanna Schaffhausen, featuring Detective Annalisa Vega, in which a cold case heats up.

The Lovelorn Killer murdered seven women, ritually binding them and leaving them for dead before penning them gruesome love letters in the local papers. Then he disappeared, and after twenty years with no trace of him, many believe that he's gone for good.

Not Grace Harper. A grocery store manager by day, at night Grace uses her snooping skills as part of an amateur sleuth group. She believes the Lovelorn Killer is still living in the same neighborhoods that he hunted in, and if she can figure out how he selected his victims, she will have the key to his identity.

Detective Annalisa Vega lost someone she loved to the killer. Now she's at a murder scene with the worst kind of déjà vu: Grace Harper lies bound and dead on the floor, surrounded by clues to the biggest murder case that Chicago homicide never solved. Annalisa has the chance to make it right and to heal her family, but first, she has to figure out what Grace knew―how to see a killer who may be standing right in front of you. This means tracing his steps back to her childhood, peering into dark corners she hadn't acknowledged before, and learning that despite everything the killer took, she has still so much more to lose.

Review: All the Best Lies by Joanna Schaffhausen

All the Best Lies (Ellery Hathaway #3) by Joanna Schaffhausen
Publication Date: February 11th 2020 by Minotaur Books
Pages: 328
Source: Publisher
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | IndieBound

About the book:

The highly anticipated third novel in the award-winning Ellery Hathaway mystery series.

FBI agent Reed Markham is haunted by one painful unsolved mystery: who murdered his mother? Camilla was brutally stabbed to death more than forty years ago while baby Reed lay in his crib mere steps away. The trail went so cold that the Las Vegas Police Department has given up hope of solving the case. But then a shattering family secret changes everything Reed knows about his origins, his murdered mother, and his powerful adoptive father, state senator Angus Markham. Now Reed has to wonder if his mother's killer is uncomfortably close to home.
Unable to trust his family with the details of his personal investigation, Reed enlists his friend, suspended cop Ellery Hathaway, to join his quest in Vegas. Ellery has experience with both troubled families and diabolical murderers, having narrowly escaped from each of them. She's eager to skip town, too, because her own father, who abandoned her years ago, is suddenly desperate to get back in contact. He also has a secret that could change her life forever, if Ellery will let him close enough to hear it.
Far from home and relying only on each other, Reed and Ellery discover young Camilla had snared the attention of dangerous men, any of whom might have wanted to shut her up for good. They start tracing his twisted family history, knowing the path leads back to a vicious killer—one who has been hiding in plain sight for forty years and isn't about to give up now.

My Thoughts:

Ellery Hathaway, a police officer, and FBI Agent, Reed Markham have a complicated past. Years ago, Reed saved fourteen-year-old Ellery from the clutches of a deranged serial killer, something that left a mark on them both.

In Vanishing Season (book one), Ellery, asks for Reed’s help with a case, and they’ve been sort of attached since. Solving cases is the excuse that brings them together, but they’re drawn to each other, and while the mysteries they investigate are thrilling, I’ve been more fascinated with their evolving relationship. As I said, their relationship is complicated since Ellery went through a horrific event: kidnapped, and held for three days before Reed found her, so even though years have gone by she’s still dealing with the emotional fallout.  Reed initially feels a lot of guilt over his attraction, since Ellery was a victim, and she’s several years younger. As the story progresses Reed has come to terms with the fact that Ellery is no longer the child he rescued, but a grown woman and survivor. Strong, intelligent, but with a determination that gets her into trouble at times.  Reed has his own troubles: work, a failed marriage, and the struggles of joint custody.  Not a fan of his ex-wife. I sense a “dog in the manger” sort of situation on her end. No worries, she’s a very minor side character.  

In this current installment Reed is the one asking for help with a case: the grisly murder of his birth mother, forty-years ago.  The case has gone cold, and about to be closed for good. Reed needs someone objective since new DNA evidence makes him question everything he thought he knew about his family and the past.

I had strong suspicions which turned out to be right on some things, but I was captivated by every new development! Trying to piece together a mystery from forty-years ago was not an easy feat, especially with all the lies they had to deal with. There were tense moments from unpleasant revelations, especially for Reed, but I think I felt worse for Ellery. The situation with her dad was heartbreaking, and I was so outraged for her!

Through it all, Ellery and Reed are there for each other, and I was soooo thrilled! Their relationship has been tentative, slow going with setbacks from misunderstandings, and the baggage of the past, but I have been so hopeful; hanging on every interaction, feeling the passion simmering beneath the surface! I’ve been inpatiently waiting for these two to realize it’s only a matter of when not if, and finally we’re getting somewhere!

All the Best Lies was soooo good!  I devoured it in one day, and now I can’t wait for the next one! There was a little happy/bittersweet twist at the end that I wondered about before it was revealed. While All the Best Lies could be read as a standalone, I wouldn’t recommend it. The books are best read in order.

5 Suns