Felicity Harland is a former FBI agent who is now an agent with the Investigative Services Bureau—her job is to solve crimes that happen on National Parks lands. Sometimes those crimes are murder. In the remote and beautiful Sequoia National Park, a park ranger discovers an abandoned glamping campsite with an empty tent and pillaged gear—Felicity is called to the case and fears foul play.

Felicity is recovering from a personal tragedy and a physical trauma, and finds it hard to work with and trust her new partner, a ranger, Ferdinand “Hux” Huxley. But as the story progresses she starts to realize that she needs and wants help from the outside world, and Hux (and her good boy, Ollie) is there for her. And the will they won't they aspect is an extra bonus!

I loved this book. I’m not outdoorsy at all, but it was so fun (and a bit scary) to live vicariously through Felicity, Hux and Ollie for their crime solving in such a beautiful locale. I highly recommend and am already reading the next one.

Vanishing Edge by Claire Kells is an exciting wilderness adventure. I recommend this first in a series. The reader will have a hard time figuring out who the killer is.

Vanishing Edge by Claire Kells was a great addition to the National Parks genre of mysteries. It was very atmospheric and the protagonist, Felicity was interesting and likeable.

The author did a good job of weaving a story around a very scenic background, and making it part of the story line, and this makes the reader feel more part of the thrilling read. The book was well written, and I will read more by this author in future.

Ex FBI agent and a local ranger came together to solve a crime of the missing campers, following the clues. The two gel well together without romance coming in the way. They were two determined colleagues, whose characters developed well as the pages turned. The last few pages were simply exciting. A great read.

Felicity Harland has started a new job as an agent with the Investigative Services Bureau, where she will investigate crimes in National Parks. And within her first few days, she's called into Sequoia National Park to determine who went missing after a ranger stumbles upon an abandoned glampsite.

While this book paced through a bit slow, I did enjoy the main characters and the setting. I could also see the setup for a long-term series, which I would be game to keep reading. With this novel, it was pretty easy to figure out the villain from the jump. I usually prefer a bit more twists and surprises, but it still made for a good read.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this ARC.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Pretty good! i have been wanting to read this book for months now and forgot i even had it, started reading it immediately, really good, liked the characters and the story, not as uh, like nonstop action as i thought but not in a bad way.

3★
“—the remoteness of the place, its total and utter isolation. It was where you went not to enjoy life, but to escape it. It was the kind of place where you could simply disappear.”

Special Agent Felicity Harland of the Investigative Services Bureau, is a tiny, newly-minted investigator working with National Parks. When she arrives at the Mineral Springs Ranger Station in Sequoia National Park, she meets Rick Corrigan the chief ranger, who says there’s a fancy ‘glamping’ campsite that appears to have been hastily abandoned, and the ranger who found it thinks something is wrong.

We are given details about the Park Service, her experience in Yosemite, and the fact that she may be new to this service, but she’s an experienced adventurer.

We also learn of her extensive, life-threatening injuries from a fall in remote, outback Australia. She is anxious to live up to the rigours of the job and not risk losing it. She’s an outdoor girl – no desks for her, please. She is introduced to big, handsome Ferdinand ‘Hux’ Huxley, an ex-Navy Seal.

Because the Park Service has called her, she is obliged to investigate, although Huxley tells her it may be nothing.

“‘Corrigan’s right—people are high maintenance these days. The reality’s different than what they see on Netflix, and when that fact dawns on them, they call us for help. I got one call a week ago asking for a refund on a permit because it rained.’”

I believe it. Felicity knows how to rough it, or rather, she did, when she was fit. But when she takes off in Hux’s wake, climbing and clambering up into the mountains, he soon sees her struggling. At just five feet tall, she is obviously overwhelmed by her pack as well as her busted up body.

“‘You okay, boss?’ Hux asked. I gave him a thumbs-up to save my breath. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Just tell me if you need a breather.’ I needed an oxygen tank and a mule, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.”

About halfway through, I made a note to myself that there was “a lot of painful hiking, checking and revisiting campsites and suspicious places in the high country.” I was hoping the story would pick up.

There is a lot of beautiful wilderness, of course, which is the attraction for tourists, but it’s the tough locals who set up the glamour-camping sites with provisions and beds and heaters in tents, for goodness’ sake! Not how I ever camped!

Some of the tough locals look suspicious, some other off-grid campers seem decidedly suspicious, and when they discover the identity of one very famous, wealthy missing camper, the case takes another turn!

“‘She had a full-time bodyguard . . . His name is Colton Dodger.”

So who exactly is missing and why?

“One of the first things you learned in the murder business was that people were capable of anything when it came to money—even people you thought you knew, people who donated to charity and trained service dogs and helped sick kids. Money turned cute little grandmothers into monsters.”

There is the added threat of “The Woodsman”, some guy who has been terrorising campers in the region and carving a weird symbol on trees. The plot does thicken with many suspects, more people missing, and a lot more of Harland and Hux scrambling up and downhill over rocks and tree roots (and past wonderful lakes). There is an occasional helicopter, but mostly it’s busy elsewhere.

I began by enjoying this, but the incessant hiking and suffering and struggling wore me down, and Felicity’s admiration for Hux’s wonderful qualities (strong, sensitive, troubled) found me rolling my eyes several times. I was also disappointed with the ending, and it looks like it could be aimed at a follow-up or even a series.

I’m sure this will find plenty of fans, but it’s not for me. Thanks to #NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for a copy for review.

Felicity Harland is making a comeback as an Investigative Services Bureau agent after leaving the FBI due to a personal tragedy. Tasked with investigating crimes that occur on National Parks lands, she gets a call about an abandoned campsite that seems to indicate that something sinister has happened. As the investigation pushes Felicity to her limit, she gets to know Fedinand Huxley, another park ranger and former Navy SEAL, and she learns that there is benefit to having a partner that she can trust.

This was an intriguing thriller mystery! I loved the setting and the evocative way that Kells describes the different locations in the book. I've only been to the Sequoia National Park once a long time ago, but the descriptions of the wilderness were so vivid that I felt like I had spent several days there by the end of the book. I also really liked both Felicity and Huxley as characters. I'm not sure if there are more books planned for these characters, but this book felt like a prequel to a series, and I would definitely be happy to read more about these characters.

If there was any criticism, I thought the ending was just ok, but it didn't impact my experience with the story too much. It was a satisfying read in a lot of other ways!

Thank you to Claire Kells, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book!

Loved this one!

I really enjoy stories set in the wilderness, national parks, rural America, and this one was awesome! I will say that it didn't quite give you the immersive experience you get from reading winter scenes by Ragnar Johnasson or Four Winds by Kristen Hannah where you *feel* the setting in your bones while you're reading it.....but it was enough vivid description that you can picture it clearly.

The characters in this one were great too. While initially I found the storyline of a National Parks Ranger/Investigator with such a serious back injury to be a little silly. I did the physicals for several branches of government including the FBI and found them challenging as a perfectly fit 26 year old so even though they tried to explain it, it seemed a little implausible. Still, I really liked both main characters and I hope there's more to come from them. The ending seemed to set up well for additional installments.

Lastly, I do think this would make a good Netflix adaption given the setting and the characters.

The Sequoia National Park offers the backdrop for this quick paced thriller. Campers go missing and ex FBI and now Investigative Bureau agent Felicity Harland is assigned to put the pieces together. Aided at first reluctantly and then thankfully by a former Navy seal, the two find obstacles at every turn. It’s a great page turner and I hope just the first of these two working together. Happy reading

Sequoia National Park is the setting for a thoroughly enjoyable and well crafted mystery. The main characters a very strong pair. Felicity Harland is a former FBI agent who's back was seriously injured, requiring numerous surgeries and recovery. Now, working for the National Park System as an investigator for the Investigative Services Bureau, she has a lot to prove to the powers that be. Now she has been paired up with a new park ranger, Ferdinand "Hux" Huxley, ex-military and Navy SEAL.
Together they trek many forest miles trying to find out what happened to a couple of glampers. On the surface it seems to be a case of a couple of ill prepared campers making mistakes. Felicity and Hux are focused on a bigger picture, certain that there is a dark side to their disappearance.
The relationship between them was one of respect and growing friendship and worked very well. The mystery had twists, turns and red herrings and a cast of interesting characters. I was drawn into it from the first chapter and stayed up past my bedtime telling myself 'just one more chapter". This debut mystery tells me I need to add a space for the series on my must be read list,
My thanks to the publisher Crooked Lane and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

A mystery where one isn’t quite sure the person dead was killed or just an accident while out in the Sequoia National Park near Precipice Lake. The dead woman is an actress, and it looks like the husband did it, as he’s older, needs money; and his wife was with another man on this glamping camping trip. Special Agent Felicity Harland with the Investigative Services Bureau, a park FBI type agency, is called out to find out what happened. Harland teams up with park ranger, and ex-Navy Seal, Huxley while they investigate despite being not entirely sure this was a murder or accident.

I was drawn to the book due to the background being in nature, the camping, trees and woods, but really this is an investigative story. It’s well done, and you get the backstory of the main characters interspersed with the main story and feel connection to these characters. The ending sets up nicely for this being the first book in a series, although nothing indicates that is the case. A decent book for anyone who likes police procedural type books.

An intriguing mystery with a strong female lead. After her injury and recovery, former FBI Agent Felicity Harland, takes a position with the Investigative Services Bureau. She is still a federal agent, but is in charge of criminal investigations that take place in the national parks. Her first case involves an abandoned camp site in Sequoia National Park. There is no indication that a crime has occurred, but she finds it hard to believe that the campers would have walked away from very expensive camping equipment. As she searches for the missing campers, she is joined by Ferdinand “Hux” Huxley, park ranger and former military. When the case becomes a murder investigation, their unwavering persistence will lead them to the unexpected murderer. I enjoyed the growing interaction between Felicity and Hux; has she found herself a new partner? I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

Vanishing Edge introduces Felicity Harland, a new agent with the Investigative Services Bureau of the National Park Service. She is sent to Sequoia National Park. A couple has gone missing from their glamping site. Felicity and Hux, a ranger, find the dead body of a woman who looks as if she has fallen or been pushed from a great height into the lake. Felicity, who has an unusual back story as a former FBI SA who was badly injured on her own wilderness expedition. Hux, who left the Navy SEALS also has a unique story that brought him here. They work well as a team with Felicity's dog Ollie hiking through the woods, dealing with uncooperative family members, resistant businesses, unreliable witnesses and few clues or evidence to point them in the right direction. In spite of these obstacles Harland and Hux are both stubborn and determined to find out what happened in the Sequoia National Park.

This is a really exciting thriller. The story is well written and the detail are so descriptive you can picture what the author has written. I love the relationship that develops between Harland and Hux. I hope to read more about this couple in future books. This is a fantastic read which keeps you guessing until the end.

A great start to a new series! Felicity Harland is a new agent with the Investigative Services Bureau of the National Park Service and she's got a real mess on her hands in Sequoia National Park. A couple has gone missing from their glamping site and the company won't cough up any info about their client. And then Felicity and Hex, a ranger, find a woman who has fallen or been pushed from a great height into the lake. But who and where is the other person? This has terrific characters in Felicity, who has an unusual back story as a former FBI SA who was badly injured on her own wilderness expedition, and Hex, who left the Navy SEALS for a reason you won't guess. They work well as a team (along with Felicity's dog Ollie) hiking through the woods, dealing with families, coping with politics and so on. The answers aren't obvious in this one and the villain was a surprise. It's well plotted with good pacing. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Very good read.

Felicity Harland, ex Federal agent, has joined the Investigative Service Bureau, investigating crimes in National Forest lands. She's been called to investigate a missing campers case in Seqouia National Park. Ferdinand Huxley "Hux" is a former Navy SEAL turned park ranger and is assigned to guide Harland up to the site. His experience and training in finding missing people, plus his easy going friendly attitude, make Felicity trust having a partner again.
I love this pair together and I'm excited to find out there will be a sequel. Felicity is such a strong woman despite her past, determined not to show any weakness. Everything seemed to be against them, from the glamping company, the victim's family, even the weather. I loved the descriptions of the park with the many trails, mountains, and lakes and how comfortable and capable Hux was in his job.
I received an advance reader copy of this book through NetGalley. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

Really enjoyed this! It's a police procedural set in Sequoia National Park, and I love the rugged setting and the way the wilderness played a role in the investigation. If you enjoy mysteries involving federal agents and the outdoors, I definitely recommend this. Hope there's another book featuring Felicity, Hux, and Ollie on the way!

New author, first read of a new series that promises to keep you reading. The first chapter reals you in, and never lets you go. If you like mystery, suspense and a book that keeps you guessing and turning pages this is the book for you. If you enjoy seeing (through this authors descriptive work) one of our great National Parks, this is the book for you. If watching a friendship unfold amidst the danger and a lovable dog, this is the book for you. A first time author for me who has me looking for more and hoping for book 2. Thank you Crooked Lane Books, Claire Kells and NetGalley for the arc, I freely volunteer my thoughts and opinions.

Felicity Harland is a new investigator with the Investigative Services Bureau which investigates crimes in the United States' National Parks. She is former FBI who is still recovering from a broken back which happened while she and her husband were exploring an isolated part of Australia. Her husband left her to find help and was never seen again. So, besides her physical challenges, she's also grieving for her husband.

Felicity is called to Sequoia National Park to look into the disappearance of two campers who were dropped off deep in the wilderness by an outfit called Glampist which specializes in luxury camping. Just getting to the campsite will be a major accomplishment for a woman recovering from her sort of injury. She is determined to overcome her injury and do her job. She is assigned help in the person of park ranger Ferdinand Huxley - know as Hux. Hux is a former Navy SEAL who is a noted tracker and almost as new at his job as Felicity is at hers.

Arriving at the site raises more questions than it answers. The site is destroyed, the campers missing, and Glampist, a luxury camping company, very unwilling to even tell them who should have been at the site citing client privacy. When a body is discovered and is identified as a rather famous actress, Felicity and Hux have somewhere to start their investigation.

A grieving widower, shady camp outfitters, and questionable campers quickly become suspects which add to the mystery. The difficult terrain of the park becomes a character in itself as Felicity and Hux have to travel over and search many difficult areas. They also face difficulties with Hux's boss who is an old school park ranger who wants to declare the death an accident and get on with his job during the busy tourist season in the park.

I liked gradually learning Felicity's story as the books went on. I thought the mystery was well done with lots of potential criminals. I liked the way Felicity and Hux get to know each other as they conduct the investigation.

This was an engaging start to a new series.