found among debris in the nearby San Pedro River. Brady soon determines that the boy was Mexican and had disappeared a few days earlier. Fortunately, Brady is on friendly terms with the local Mexican authorities, with whom she teams up to work on the case.

What Brady doesn’t know, but readers can easily guess, is that the murderer is Stephen Roper. The author introduces Roper in a prologue in which, at 11 in Minnesota in 1956, he murders his step-grandmother, making the crime look like an accident. From that point, the book proceeds in dual timelines, with alternating chapters describing Brady’s investigation and Roper’s lengthy murderous history. As an adult, Roper became a teacher, which allowed him to travel across the country during the summer months, killing people in multiple jurisdictions nationwide. Eventually, he moved to Bisbee, where he hid in plain sight, becoming a career high school teacher for several decades. Ironically, he was Brady’s high school English teacher, a fact both of them remember.

The author incorporates large amounts of information about serial killers into The Girl from Devil’s Lake without the novel ever sounding like an information dump. Roper hears voices in his head, including Sherlock Holmes, who advises him on avoiding detection as he commits his crimes. The author wisely avoids including the actual words spoken by the voices, which might have sounded ridiculous. Over the course of the book, the picture emerges of Roper as a man who successfully maintained a low profile for decades while meticulously planning his crimes and keeping “trophies” from his victims. Roper becomes a thoroughly repellent but compelling character.

Because many series readers have gotten to know Joanna Brady over the years, the author spends less time on her background. Her daughter has now followed her into law enforcement, becoming a deputy in her own right and getting engaged. The murder investigation takes place while Brady and her daughter are planning the wedding. Many authors would have spent a lot of time discussing the wedding plans and turning Brady’s multitasking into a significant plot point. In The Girl from Devil’s Lake, the investigation is always paramount, and the author keeps potentially distracting subplots to a minimum.

Readers accustomed to massive task forces being assembled to investigate major crimes, followed by a slow, meticulous investigation, will find “The Girl from Devil’s Lake” somewhat hard to believe. Brady works on the case with the usual resources at her disposal, although she’s able to bring in some outside help. The author had to cut some corners here, much like TV shows streamline investigations to fit a 60-minute time frame rather than the days or weeks it takes in real life. I found this convenient condensing of what would occur in an actual investigation, a slightly annoying but acceptable plot compromise. A more realistic, 700-page novel wouldn’t have been as effective.

Once Brady suspects Roper of killing the four-year-old boy, she sends out notifications nationwide to other police departments asking for information about similar unsolved crimes. She is surprised to learn how many police officers , active and retired, remember the cold cases they couldn’t solve, even those decades old. This came as a surprise to me as well, and the author incorporates some of those reminiscences into a powerful finale. The title character in The Girl from Devil’s Lake was one of Roper’s first victims, killed over half a century earlier. The information Brady receives regarding that case provides some significant clues for her investigation.

When I read The Girl from Devil’s Lake, I felt as if I were reading a true crime memoir instead of a novel. I mean that as a compliment. Those looking for further developments in Joanna Brady’s personal storyline may be disappointed. The author develops her character through her actions and reactions as the case progresses. However, readers do learn much about Stephen Roper’s twisted psyche. From what I’ve read about other serial killers, Roper seemed chillingly like many of them, albeit being more successful in eluding capture for decades. I felt the author could have added more detail to the investigation, which at times seemed to progress too neatly. However, The Girl from Devil’s Lake is a book that both true-crime and police-thriller fans will thoroughly enjoy.  

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.