What a dark gritty twisted plot. So scary and heart wrenching at times. Well written and told in a way that kept this suspenseful and creepy as hell. The characters are well done and this story keeps you reading until the last page.
Heart wrenching and heart pounding

Emily is a favorite author of mine - great stand alone suspense books so I was excited to see her coming out with a series.

This first novel sets up the detective Freya Sinclair - she had left home for 5 years after the crime of her parents and is now returned to come home and solve crimes. Throughout this book there is foreshadowing of what her parents did but not the full story so I am excited to see the second book.

This story sets up the murder of a 6 year old girl being drowned in a lake and quickly Freya uncovers something even more sinister with a serial killer being protected by a cult. Great set-up here.

The novel moves pretty quickly and is concise.

Emily Shiner brings suspense and great characterization to Three Drowned Girls, the first book in the Detective Freya Sinclair series. Freya returns to her hometown of Fawn Lake, North Carolina after leaving five years ago. Her roots are a sub-plot in this story. The body of a young girl is found in the river on her first day back as captain of the detectives in the small police department. Soon another girl is reported missing by her father, and a third girl is found drowned. What is going on in this small town?

Freya is loyal, dedicated, driven, and honest. However, she’s not great at letting new people into her life and she doesn’t let those in power intimidate her. She’s a strong protagonist with a strong sense of justice and determination that made it easy to support her. Candy Ellinger is her only detective for now. She and Freya communicate well. She’s also not afraid to tell Freya what she thinks. Brad Williams is a patrol officer who wants to be a detective. He’s the one she can call on for extra help when cases require it. Chief Callahan knows Freya’s background and rehired her, but he doesn’t fully trust her judgment yet.

A chilling prologue is the start to this dark and disturbing series. Freya’s background is sprinkled throughout the novel so readers gradually understand why the town may not be welcoming her back with open arms. While this is a crime thriller and a police procedural, the police procedural part had a few misses for me. The lack of evidence bags and gloves when searching for clues was one glaring error. Additionally, the pacing was a little uneven in places. Despite this, the twisty plot had me fully engaged in finding the killer and determining what was going to happen next.

The storyline is gripping, grabbing readers attention immediately and transporting them to the world of the victims and the investigators. There are several sub-plots that keep the investigators and readers wondering how or if they are interrelated. The tension was high as the detectives try to understand the events and race to solve the case.

Overall, this exciting, intense, and disturbing novel is a powerful page-turner with great characterization and tension that feels alive. This book demanded my attention and was a fast read. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series. Those who enjoy dark crime thrillers may enjoy this series.

Bookouture and Emily Shiner provided a digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently expected to be April 22, 2024. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

I'm so glad that I gave this ebook format a chance after DNFing the Audiobook version. I did end up enjoying it. Normally I'm not a huge fan of detective mystery/thrillers but I liked this one. I liked it enough to read the next book "One Liar Left" in this series!

Here's what I did loved:
- Short Chapters
- Easy to follow
- The ebook format version was great
- Plot that I haven't read before
- I liked how the culprit was not who I predicted and the whole scenario was different than what I had expected.

Here's what I didn't love:
- I made the victim connection very early on in the book but it took the Freya a while to make the same connection.
- The explanation of Freya's past seemed to really drag out. I feel like it wouldn't have been an issue to disclose the information earlier on. It almost made it seem like it was going to be way bigger and more of a twist than what it ended up being, just because it was drawn out like a massive secret.
- I hated the audiobook format version (the different accents were unbelievable and distracting)
-Without spoiling things, I would've like to learn more about the "group" and how they came to be in the first place.

Thank you to NetGalley, Emily Shiner and Bookouture for this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

I had really enjoyed Emily Shiner's "The Hotel" so I was excited when I was approved to get an ARC of her new release. The “Three Drowned Girls” is the first book in Emily Shiner’s new Detective Freya Sinclair series.

As the book begins, the reader is introduced to the circumstances involving one of the three girls in the title. We are also introduced to Freya Sinclair. As the investigation unfolds, the reader comes to better understand the complicated history Freya has with her hometown. I found the motive behind the murders to be a little unrealistic when it was finally revealed. I guess I would feel that way with most murders of small children, though.

Overall, I felt this was a solid entry in a new series by the author. I would read the next installment to check in with Freya Sinclair and determine if this was a series I want to continue following. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my ARC.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Bookouture for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
Female detective Freya Sinclair returns to her hometown, Fawn Lake , North Carolina, she knew returning would be difficult, she knew she would have to prove herself and earn the trust of her Chief, her colleagues and that of the town. She carries guilt as she made a vital mistake in the past, arrested the wrong people and lives were lost. Freya was unaware of what her parents were hiding in their basement and how evil thy were.
No time to settle into her new role as Captain Sinclair, first day back and the body of a little girl has been found in the river near the woods. Was it an accident, was she murdered, why has no worried parent reported their child missing? The there is vandalism at Esther’s bakery, Esther is the woman who took her in and gave her a home when her parents were arrested. Before long they have a report of a missing girl and then another drowned girl, all around the same age, 5 to six years old, what is happening, what ties these girls together, are there more missing girls?
This author is very skilled at drawing the reader into this fast paced haunting thriller which is full of secrets and a twisted chilling horrifying evilness. There is tension and mystery as the case comes together for Freya’s team.
This is a five star read, I will most definitely be readingbook 2 with Detective F Sinclair - One Liar Left.

This was a new author for me , but I will definitely read more of her books. Three Drowned Girls by Emily Shiner was a very good book that kept me interested and couldn’t read fast enough. Lots of twists and interesting characters. Thanks Netgalley and Bookouture for my arc.

I went into this thinking it was going to be more of a story about Freya with her parents being serial killers. I got the feeling this might be explored later in the series, and while this was at its core, a police procedural, it was an entertaining mystery that followed Freya Sinclair and her team as they race to find who drowned the girl, and where the missing child is.
I would definitely read the next in the series.

Freya was an interesting character with a past that made her determinate to solve the case more admirable. She wasn't perfect and in a lot of ways looking for redemption for past mistakes.

The other characters added to the flavor of the story, and this is a series, so more Freya to come!

This was a new author for me and I look forward to reading more of their work 😊

Thank you Netgalley, Emily Shiner, and Bookouture for the ebook! I've read a lot of Emily Shiner books and this was a bit different from the others I've read. A detective Freya novel with many more to come. I absolutely loved it. It was so fast paced and detective Freya was just so likeable I can't wait to read more of her journey any see what she gets into next!

I was a little concerned I was getting burned out on crime procedurals, so I was nervous to start this one. But I need not be as I was invested in this one from the start. Freya is introduced in this first in a new series. And while the reader is a little slow to learn about her, we know she is the daughter of serial killer parents. If that isn’t a heck of a stigma to live with. We know she was injured on her last job and there was some sort of incident that brought her back to her hometown even with it being haunted by her parents’ actions. I like this slow burn of information. Freya is interesting enough that I want to know more and like that anticipation.

In addition to being a fan of Freya, I also like the team she has and how their characters are also slowly being established. They are there from the start, but slowly become more fleshed out as we learn little bits of information about them.

This case is a little bit dark as it involves missing children. Well, it starts with the death of one and moves on to missing children that everyone fears may also have been killed. This could be a trigger for some, but I felt it was tactfully done without any gruesome details.

Amelia Sciandra does a good job narrating the audiobook and the various characters. While I wasn’t a huge fan of her male voices, there isn’t a lot of male dialogue. But she did a great job with the story itself and the female voices.

It’s a good start to an intriguing series.

I enjoyed this book so much! I loved Freya’s character and her team & how well they worked together. I’m a big fan of books with lots of dialogue and this one is on point! Great plot (dark), great character development. I liked how Freya’s background was pieced in throughout the book instead of a big information dump at the beginning. This allows the action to start right away from page one. Great thriller! I’ve already downloaded book 2. No, book 1 is not left with cliffhangers. Also, we need a book on Freya’s parents! 😋

Three Drowned Girls by Emily Shiner the first book in the detective Freya Sinclair series was due to be published on April 22nd 2024 by Bookouture.

This isn’t the first book that I have read by the author and it will definitely not be my last I absolutely love her writing and just how the stories flow. Detective Freya Sinclair returns back to her hometown after a five year hiatus following the arrest of her serial killer parents.
It's barely a couple hours into her first day at her former precinct when a child's remains are found at alocal lake. Little does she realize, she'll be lead down a dark road of suspicious parents and missing children.

I just love a good detective story and this definitely topped the cake for me and I cannot wait for the story to go on so I can learn more!!


I highly recommend to read this if you love a good strong female detective story. Reminds me of how AJ Rivers does her books and she’s one of my favorites 🫶🏻🫶🏻

I had the pleasure of reading Three Drowned Girls and One Liar Left, Books 1 & 2 in the Detective Freya Sinclair Series. They are thrilling and eerie books with all the action and drama of a police procedural. I couldn’t put these books down because I had to know how they would end. They are both full of twists and suspense with satisfyingly shocking conclusions.

I have posted this review on Amazon, Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6448477090

And Instagram

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6448477090

I received this arc from Bookouture for a book tour.

Title: Three Drowned Girls
Author: Emily Shiner
Genre: Thriller
Media: ebook
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Favorite quote: N/A
Sum of this book in 5 words or less: So much senseless child killing.

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Themes: murder, child abuse, detective

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Thoughts:

I received a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Short summary - Freya Sinclair has been away from her hometown for 5 years and when she comes back she doesn’t expect a welcome, especially coming back as a detective. A little girl is pulled from the river, drowned, soon after she returns home. Another girl is reported missing soon after. Freya dives into solving these murders even with backlash from the town.

We talk in the synopsis about a father that doesn’t trust Freya but it’s really the entire town that doesn’t trust her. Also, the title is three drowned girls. There are more than 3 that end up dying, just a warning.

If you can handle a detective solving the murders of little girls under the age of 6/7 go for this book. I wanted to read it because it’s good to know, even though it’s fiction, that there are detectives and police officers out there that actually do care.

This book is the first of two so far and are both available on Kindle Unlimited! I’m going to dive into the second one once I have a chance!

This was a great mystery/thriller book. The main character, Freya, a police captain, is working in a case to solve the mystery of missing and murdered little girls in her town. This was a real page turner!

Thanks to Netgalley for this eArc review!

This was a great mystery/thriller! It was a quick read, and I couldn't put it down!
I liked the small-town vibe. It was interesting to see how something like that could happen in a small town without anyone knowing.
I liked all the characters but definitely also want to learn a little more about them. I really liked the FMC, Freya. She's a force to be reckoned with. However, I wish we had more of her backstory. We got bits and pieces, but I would have liked to hear the whole thing.
I would definitely recommend this!

Detective Freya Sinclair is a force! I admire her for overcoming her traumatizing family drama & the careful detective she is. She works with Candy & Brad on her team that work so seamlessly to solve horrific crimes.
Esther is a wonderful addition to the cast as the one everyone would love to have looking out for them as she does for Freya.
Three Drowned Girls, is one of the most devastating crimes I’ve read with the killing of little girls. Fast paced and gripping, it’s a psychological thriller that had me feeling how intense the story is.

Thank you, Emily Shiner, Bookouture, & netgalley for my copy! All opinions are my own.

After being away from her home town for a few years Freya decides to come back and take up her old job as a detective. Not long after arriving a girls body is found in the local river. When other children have gone missing but not being reported as missing by anyone Freya and her team have their hands full trying to figure out just what is going on...
I enjoy reading books from this author and it didn't disappoint and am already reading the next book in this series

A brilliant read very hard to put down once you start. Book one in a new series which I look forward to reading more of this series.

I honestly enjoyed this book. I liked the plot and found the author's writing style to be very captivating for me. This was my first book by this author and I enjoyed the perspectives she gave. We follow mostly from the perspective of Captain Freya Sinclair and her journey back in her hometown where she grew up. She's trying to solve a case of missing girls along with one dead girl found in the river. She questions herself and really doubts her worth a lot. It shows how caring she is as an individual and wants nothing more than for people to forget about her past. I thought it was a lovely story.
However, I felt as though it lacked a lot of detail. For instance, the book really focused on Freya's past and the reason she had fled town to begin with. We weren't really given the story, just the basis of what had happened. Her past being a large part of the book, I felt as though we could've really benefited from knowing more about it.
I also feel as though with the girls, her reasoning for connecting the cases never really made sense to me. The police got calls about missing girls, but it seemed like there wasn't much else to go on other than the mothers behaving strangely. It could've just been how I interpreted the book, but I'm a person who thrives in detail; I appreciate the full picture of things.
Nonetheless, I thought the plot was great and it was a book I couldn't put down. It was easy to glide through the pages and into the next chapters. I'm looking forward to more of what this author writes in this series. This is just the first book and the others could go way more into detail. But I'm definitely going to be reading her other books as well.