Walk Into Silence by Susan McBride, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Detective Jo Larson of the Plainfield, Texas Police Department investigates the disappearance of a woman in Walk Into Silence, the first mystery in this series by Susan McBride.

Patrick Dielman filed a missing person report for his wife, Jenny. He appeared to be genuinely concerned about her. She had been married before and that marriage fell apart after the accidental death of Finn, her six-year-old son a few days before Thanksgiving. Unable to get over the loss of her only child, Jenny battled depression and grief for over a year. She blamed her husband, Kevin Harrison, a prominent surgeon in Dallas, for their son’s death. While Kevin was talking on the phone, Finn ran outside and climbed up to his tree house. Somehow he fell, breaking his neck. Now married again, she still mourns the death of her son and had begun to believe that somehow her ex-husband killed him. She kept a journal, writing everything down that she can remember about Finn’s life and death. Jenny’s current husband, Patrick, is a controlling man, not particularly loving, and he didn’t believe her when she told him someone had been in her bedroom moving things around, i.e., pictures, and clothing in her dresser drawers. On a late afternoon Jenny told Patrick that she was going to do some shopping at the local Warehouse Club and she wouldn’t be gone long. She never returned. Hikers found her car in an old limestone quarry. They called the police. Jo and her partner, Hank, drove out to investigate. Although the keys were in the ignition, and her purse containing her wallet, credit cards and cell phone, etc., were found on the passenger seat and the groceries on the back, and nothing in the trunk, Jenny was nowhere around. There was no sign of a struggle. As they searched the area, Jo finally saw Jenny’s body about fifty feet down in a watery pit. When they brought her to the surface they saw she had a gunshot wound to her head. The gun belonged to Jenny. Their first thought was she had committed suicide but when bagging the gun they found it to be wiped clean of fingerprints. Will Jo and Hank be able to find enough evidence to convict anyone of Jenny’s murder? And what of Jenny’s journal, which has turned up missing; will it be found to uncover what really happened to Finn? Was his death and accident or murder?

Jo Larsen grounds this first in series mystery in a compelling manner, and the crime she is investigating is intriguing and suspenseful one. Although Jo’s personal life history somewhat muddles the narrative—she does have an indirect connection with the victim—her life as a detective is strong and straightforward.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Walk Into Silence.

Acknowledgment: Thomas & Mercer provided a copy of Walk Into Silence for this review.

Walk Into Silence

A Jo Larsen Mystery by Susan McBride