Detective Freya Sinclair has returned to her hometown as a detective, and her first day on the job lands her in an investigation of a young girl found in the river.

I really enjoyed Freya and her colleagues, and will read other books in this series. The book mentions her past and what her parents did/why Freya left town, without really explaining what happened. I honestly thought I had missed a prequel that explained it, but hopefully it will come out in more detail in later books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

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.

This audiobook was released earlier this week and is the first book in a new series by @authoremilyshiner. First of all, this book was set in North Carolina so you know I had to read it! The setting is the town of Fawn Lake, but it sounds much like small towns throughout NC. I loved the main character Detective Freya Sinclair who became a police officer after being raised by parents who were eventually found to be serial killers. In this book she investigates a case related to a missing girl. The story was shocking with unpredictable twists. I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to read more about Detective Sinclair’s cases in the future.

I highly recommend this book, especially if you love crime thrillers involving serial killers and missing person cases.

Thank you @bookouture for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

Fawn Lake harbors secrets and a dangerous plot unfolds. Detective Freya Sinclair is determined to uncover the culprit, who targets innocent young girls. The book entertained me with its dark and mysterious storyline, and I appreciated the unexpected ending.

It's a gripping police procedural that hooked me from the first page. Freya, the main character, is likable, as are several others in the story.

"Three Drowned Girls" was an enjoyable read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for the free copy of the book.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook of Three Drowned Girls. I’m not a huge series person, but I feel like this will appeal to fans of Melinda Leigh’s Bree Taggert series or Rachel Caine’s Stillhouse Lake series. Honestly I was more interested in the “my parents are serial killers” angle, but maybe she’ll dive more into that in future books in the series.

Freya Sinclair returns to her hometown after a refuge in Texas helps her clear her mind from her past. She gets a job at her former police dept and steps right get back into the roll she left. She didn’t expect to dive so deep so quickly.

This book kept me hooked from the beginning. I couldn’t stop listening and had to find out the ending as soon as I could. Emily Shiner’s writing was suspenseful and thrilling. I could picture every scene as each chapter was read. I can’t wait to read the 2nd book in the Freya Sinclair series.

Emily Shiner is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors! Three Drowned Girls was amazing and I'm so glad that it is the first in a series. I'll be counting the days until I can devour Freya's next adventure. The narrator was fantastic and truly brought the story to life. 5 big stars on this one!

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.

I loved the narration done by Amelia Sciandra.

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

“Three Drowned Girls” by Emily Shiner is the first book in a new thriller series following the cases of Detective Freya Sinclair. Freya returns to her hometown of Fawn Lake, North Carolina so that she can solve crimes similar to her own serial killer parents. Her first case involves the disappearance of several local girls and ultimately the location of their drowned bodies. The book takes you on many twists and turns and when you think you know what’s going to happen, you really have no clue.

Initially, I was very into the plot of the book. I was pulled in from the beginning and was very eager to learn why and how these girls went missing. However, when it was finally revealed what happened, I felt I was left with more questions than answers. To me, it wasn’t as believable an explanation as I would like. The motive did not make a lot of sense to me. I wish it had been fleshed out a bit more. I did enjoy most of the story though and did like the narrator on this audiobook. She was easy to understand and differentiated the characters well.

I’d be interested to read the next book in the series. I’d really love to get some more background on her parents and Freya’s involvement in that case. I hope the author doesn’t let too many books go by before giving us this information because that is definitely a book I want to read!

I wasn’t a fan of this audiobook unfortunately. It wasn’t for me. I did make a review post for this and the link is copied down below.

Honestly I didn’t like MC Freya. I felt she was rude and very sure of herself. I also felt this book dragged on a little. Every lead they got turned into more leads and all I wanted was to know the victims names. This one took me longer to listen to because I wasn’t as engaged and interested in the storyline as I wanted to be. Once everything came together I still felt underwhelmed.

Although three drowned girls wasn’t my favorite because of the MC, I would be interested in hearing Freyas backstory of her discovering her parents were serial killers.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture Audio for an ARC audiobook. The narrator did a nice job telling the story and making you feel like you are there with all the characters.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and Bookouture Audio for gifting me both a digital and audio ARC of the first in a new series by a favorite, Emily Shiner, wonderfully narrated by Amelia Sciandra. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!

Detective Freya Sinclair is back in her hometown and not getting a warm welcome from its residents. Unbeknownst to Freya, her parents were serial killers and she initially accused the wrong person, so many won't forgive her. Minutes after returning to the police force, a young girl is pulled from the river. Before she can barely begin to investigate, another girl goes missing. Just what is going on in the town?

I really enjoyed this police procedural. Freya is a strong character, with a past that still haunts her, but Esther, who raised her is still a strong force in her life. We don't learn too many details about her past, and I'm assuming those will unfold in the next book. There were plenty of good characters - I liked both Candy and Brad, who work with Freya. While the subject matter of missing and murdered young girls is definitely dark, it was not overly graphic. Onto #2!

Unfortunately I had to DNF this audiobook a couple chapters in. I found the narrator’s accents incredibly unbelievable and very distracting. It made it difficult to retain anything happening. I’m going to read the ebook version instead so that I can give the book itself, a fair chance. Once I have read the ebook, I will submit my true rating/review of the book.

For years Freya Sinclair had no idea her parents were serial killers. She became a detective to stop people like her parents. Returning to her home town after being gone for five years, Freya immediately gets a case involving a six year old girl who was drowned. Was it an accident? Intentional? Where are her parents? Before she can figure out what happened, another little girl goes missing, and then another is found drowned . . .

I am always on the lookout for a great mystery that includes the investigative aspect of a police procedural. I love trying to solve the case along with law enforcement and Three Drowned Girls had my mind SPINNING! I can usually figure out what’s going on pretty quickly, but not this time. Red herrings abounded and with a town full of unique and somewhat shady characters, what was going on was anybody’s guess. Once I did have an inkling of who the culprit may be…well let’s just say, it met my requirement of dark and twisted crime fiction.

Freya herself is an immensely likable character. After all, she has a pet tarantula named Cinnamon that she keeps in her office! The background of how she got Cinnamon just made me like her more. I wish there were more details about her past and her parents, but maybe that’s in book two, One Liar Left, also OUT NOW and I can’t wait to read it!

Listening to the audio version was simply amazing. Amelia Sciandra gave a phenomenal performance for every individual in this large cast of characters. Not only did she nail the emotion and inflection of every person, she used different accents, cadence and pitch. By far the best narrator I’ve heard yet! I had zero trouble distinguishing the different characters, from young to old and male to female. Brilliant performance!

Thank you Emily Shiner, Bookouture and NetGalley for the gifted ALC.

Scroll down for potential spoiler content warnings.




























⚠️Content Warnings: child death, mention of CSA and pedophilia

“Three Drowned Girls” by Emily Shiner is available now in paperback and on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.

After five years away from her hometown of Fawn Lake, Detective Freya Sinclair isn’t expecting a warm welcome from the people she’s sworn to protect. She became a detective to bring serial killers like her parents to justice, but the tight-knit North Carolinian community can’t see past her twisted roots.

Minutes after stepping foot back home, the body of a dark-haired young girl is pulled from the river and Freya races to the scene. She’s determined to identify the child and finally prove herself, but before Freya even has a chance to search through missing persons, another girl is reported missing.

This was a fantastic start to a new series. Gripping from the start and full of great characters and dark intrigue. A well constructed mystery that kept me guessing until the end.

#books #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #horror #crime #mystery #forensicthriller #policeprocedural #murdermystery

The story of Freya returning to her hometown after 5 years, and is given the job as captain of police. Her first case involves a body of a young girl that is found in the river. The story is captivating with many twists and turns and I couldn't stop listening to it. I had to know what was going on. Freya had left her town due to a horrific situation with her parents, and I only wish the author went into more depth with part of the story. I'm hoping that because this is book 1, the next book will go into more detail.

I was fully engaged in this story and would highly recommend it. Thank you to Bookotour and NetGalley for the ARC.

I wish I had read this book instead of listening. The plot is great and the book is well written, but the narrator is unbearable. I had to listen at 150% just to make it bearable

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook provided to me for my honest review. Freya Sinclair, passionate detective, begins her story in this 1st book in her series. She’s returned home after being away to take back her job on the small town police force, only to have her first case center around young girls being found drowned under suspicious circumstances. Freya, along with her team of 2 other officers, fight to solve the case before more girls are found dead… what (or WHO) could be causing these deaths? By the end of the story I was invested in Freya and wanted to help her get this case solved! I listened to the story on audiotape and, although I enjoyed the reader’s small town accents, felt that not enough expression was put into the reading in multiple places. It seemed wooden to me, but the story was good enough to keep me listening! Because of the way it was read and because I felt like it took a bit too long to wind up the tale once the main part was over, I had to round my 4.25 rating down to 4 stars here. Give it a listen and let me know if you enjoy this police procedural with heart as much as I did!

Really enjoyed this audio book I listened to it in 2 days
Lots of twists and also a likeable detective Freya whos picking up the pieces of a previous life after returning to her childhood town

Will look out for more by Emily Shiner

Three Drowned Girls tells the dark story of unexplained disappearances in a small town. Detective Freya Sinclair is herself both interesting and complicated. Her troubled past allows her a different perspective into crimes than others who might take on a case. I felt the pace of the story was adequate to reveal just the right amount of details about the case without running headlong into the action, thereby making it more unrealistic. When the writing is too rushed and points are left out, there are too many unanswered questions to really enjoy the plot. This one definitely took some unexpected turns and twists that left this reader satisfied. I already look forward to seeing how the detective solves her next case. I thought Amelia Sciandra did a particularly great job narrating this one with all the different voices she captured, enhancing the story rather than detracting from it.
Thanks to #NetGalley and #Bookouture for this ARC.