Gone by Midnight

Crimson Lake is where people with dark pasts come to disappear—and where others vanish into thin air…

Four young boys are left alone in a hotel room while their parents dine downstairs. When Sara Farrow checks on the children at midnight, her son is missing.

Distrustful of the police, Sara turns to Crimson Lake’s unlikeliest private investigators—disgraced cop Ted Conkaffey and convicted killer Amanda Pharrell. For Ted, the case couldn’t have come at a worse time. Two years ago a false accusation robbed him of his career, his reputation, and most importantly, his family. But now Lillian, the daughter he barely knows, is coming to stay in his ramshackle cottage by the lake.

Ted must dredge up the area’s worst characters to find the missing boy. The clock is ticking, and the danger he uncovers could well put his own child in deadly peril.

Title: Gone by Midnight

Series: Crimson Lake #3

Author: Candince Fox

Hardcover: 352 pages

Publication Date: 03/10/2020

Publisher: Forge

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1250317584 

ISBN-13: 9781250317582

Mini Review

I enjoy a nice sleuth story now and then and this novel sounded interesting to me for its Australian setting and the narrator’s accent of the audiobook. Unbeknownst to me though, this book happened to be the third in the current Crimson Lake series as I realized when several references were made to the main character’s backstory that I was missing and had to figure out.

Ted Conkaffey is a private investigator who had to leave his prior cop career after some devastating accusations against him about child abduction and molestation. This must have happened in the last book, I am thinking. As a new case to investigate emerges of a missing boy, Ted and his sidekick Amanda end up working together after being requested by the devastated mother of the boy.

Something is certainly fishy. A bunch of young kids were left in a hotel room when several parents got together for the weekend to go out to have a good time. When investigators ask the kids about their versions of the night in question, they turn more bazaar by with each telling.

While Ted and Amanda split into their tasks, each one of them is confronted to deal with challenges from their past, in part almost deadly for one of them. Between the misleads and some vendetta moments, the case takes twists and turns, some hair raising, that keep the investigators as well as the reader on their toes ;)

To appreciate a series as such with the continuation and character development to follow along over several books would be ideal, something I failed to gain since I jumped in late. However, I did enjoy the in part personal story and detective work combo of the two PI's. What comes to mind are the Kinsey Millhone mysteries "A" Is for Alibi, "B" Is for Burglar, "C" Is for Corpse, etc. by Sue Grafton, where you find an equal measure personality growth combined with old fashioned sleuth work.

What I loved about this novel was definitely the mouth of Amanda, Ted’s sidekick. She does not hold back and challenges everything with dry humor, wit, and sarcasm. The Australian outback setting with Ted’s little farm and the mysterious Crimson lake/swamps with crikey crocks was definitely an enticing change from the usual mysteries out there.

I would say to enjoy this to the fullest, you may want to start with book one, though it was totally fine to read as a stand-alone. I just feel like I missed getting to know the characters a bit better if I had.

All in all an enjoyable, laid back, and easy-going read with some quirky and funny moments.

Happy Reading :)