Thank you Netgalley for this arc. I really enjoyed this and I would recommend reading this. This was my first book by this author and he did not disappoint. I would rate this book 5 stars.

𝐀 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐞
𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐚 𝐌𝐨𝐞𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠
𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓
𝟓⭐️

Ahh BEN PACKARD!! One of my most favorite fictional characters of all time and author @jmoehling has created one of my most favorite series.

𝐀 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐧𝐞 is the third book in the Ben Packard Series and it of course did not dissapoint. Back in 2022 the first book of the series 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐇𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐇𝐞𝐫 released and to this day it is still one of my favorite books! @jmoehling knows how to write a mystery and execute an intriguing, addictive, storyline. His plots are realistic, it’s almost like reading a true crime story. I love a thriller/mystery that is not over the top, so many thrillers these days are just way too unrealistic.

Main character Ben Packard is just the perfect character. We’ve seen him grow from book one in so many ways, and his back story is just everything. He’s a complex, likeable character, an amazing DOG DAD and I’ve rooted for him always!

I’ve also always loved the small town setting that @jmoehling has used in each book, it works well for the storyline. I need this series to continue forever! Thank you to @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for the early copy!

This can be read as a stand alone, but I highly reccomened starting with book one- you won’t regret it! Synopsis in comments.
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#joshuamoehling#alongtimegone
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#bookrecommendations

My thanks to Poisoned Pen Press, and Joshua Moehling.
This is my second book from Mr. Moehling, and ill be honest and tell y'all that I'm annoyed as he'll that I missed his other.
I'm not here to blow smoke up your arse. This is a fantastic book.
Ben might be of my favorite people.
Yeah, I know. Lousy review. I'm sick and really just tired.

I received an eARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

In A Long Time Gone, the third volume of Joshua Moehling’s Ben Packard saga, Moehling continues to demonstrate why he and his characters are exactly what the mystery and suspense genre needed. Amid a sea of repetitive narratives, this series breathes fresh air into the genre, offering complex, relatable characters and a gripping plot.

In this installment, Ben Packard has left the sheriff’s office and now works as court security—a position assigned by the new sheriff, a lackluster figure more interested in collecting a paycheck than serving justice. When a court incident goes awry, Packard is placed on administrative leave while the county attorney reviews his future on the force. Suddenly faced with an abundance of free time, he turns his attention to a personal mystery: his brother’s decades-old disappearance. A fresh lead—an address—sparks new hope, but winter’s harsh grip stalls any immediate action until the snow melts.

Despite the seasonal delay, Packard dives into the unresolved clues left by his late boss, Sheriff Stan Shaw, regarding his brother’s case. However, progress is slow, and his optimism wanes. Adding to the intrigue, a visit to his late grandfather’s home raises new suspicions about the mysterious death of its last owner, Louise Larsen.

Balancing two major plotlines in a single novel can be a daunting challenge, but Moehling handles it with exceptional skill. The intertwining investigations—one into Louise Larsen’s death and the other into the truth behind Packard’s brother’s disappearance—are seamlessly woven together. Each twist and turn keeps readers engaged, while Moehling’s steady pacing ensures no loose ends are left unresolved.

Reading this third installment was an absolute delight. Every time I picked up the book, I found myself unable to put it down, eager to uncover what would happen next. The narrative is so compelling that stopping at a "safe" point felt nearly impossible—every page offered new surprises. The depth and development of the characters, combined with the intricate storytelling, kept me on edge throughout.

This series has quickly become one of my favorites, and A Long Time Gone solidifies my commitment to following Ben Packard’s journey. I’m already eagerly anticipating the next volume and can’t wait to see what Moehling has in store. If you haven’t started this series yet, now is the perfect time to dive in.

Decades later, Ben finds himself working his brother's case to finally discover what happened many years ago. This journey was heartbreaking, beautiful, and forgiving. While Ben is working on his brother's case he is also working on another case. Both are equally intriguing on their own but the investigation on his brother's case was moving for me. The author made me shed some tears and for that this book deserves all the stars. Not sure what's next for Detective Packard, but I hope there is more to come. This one gave me such a good book hangover.

Love this series. Ben Packard is one of my favorite characters, and has had me coming back for more since the first novel. And it’s so bittersweet that this is likely the last book (however, I’d love another!).

If you love detective novels and stories that weave together past and present events in a shocking way, this is a series for you.

Thank you again to Poisoned Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy…available for sale on 2/4/2025! ✨

Main Characters:
-- Ben Packard – Sandy Lake Sheriff’s Deputy, recently lost an election for Sheriff after being acting Sheriff and lead investigator, current Sheriff assigned him to courthouse security
-- Howard Shepard – newly elected Sandy Lake Sheriff, former investigator who Ben had been ready to fire
-- Jim Wolf – chair of the county board of commissioners who had led Howard’s campaign
-- Jill Thielen – Sheriff’s Deputy, close friend and ally to Packard, still works as lead investigator
-- Deputy Reynolds – newest deputy, being trained by Thielen, Packard borrows him for some of his investigation
-- Ray Wiley – a lawyer with a small firm in Sandy Lake, played bridge with Louise Larsen who recently died from a fall down her stairs, Howard’s father-in-law
-- Lisa Washington – Ray’s daughter and a public defender, her sister is married to Howard

"A Long Time Gone" is the third is a series of books featuring Ben Packard, a Deputy Sheriff in Sandy Lake, Minnesota. Packard recently lost a contentious election against Howard Shepard for Sandy Lake Sheriff. With no love lost between the two men, Shepard assigned Packard to courthouse security, quite the step down from the lead investigator and acting Sheriff he had been before the election.

The story starts during a court recess. Jim Wolf is involved in a case against Robert Clark, and Wolf stands to make a lot of money if he wins. As the recess comes to a close, Clark pulls a gun aimed at Wolf, and Packard is forced to shoot him. Since an officer-involved shooting has to go through an investigation, Packard is put on leave.

The author does a great job at making this a stand-alone novel, so I didn’t feel like I was missing much, even though I don’t have the entire back story between Packard and Shepard. Not gonna lie, I might go back and read the first two books because I enjoyed this one enough that I’m curious about the history.

What I do know is this: The former Sheriff passed away, which is how Packard came to be acting Sheriff. While acting Sheriff, Packard investigated a case of someone who abducted and killed several women, reminding him of the disappearance of his own brother 30 years before. He went looking for his brother’s case file, but it turned out to contain only some pictures, a handwritten letter from the former Sheriff, and a map indicating where his brother’s remains are said to be.

Since that he’s on leave with endless time on his hands, Packard decides to start looking into the disappearance of his brother. It’s winter, and the ground is frozen, so Packard figures he can ask some of the residents about one of the pictures to determine whether they can identify two teenagers pictured with his brother.

When Packard shares what he knows with his family, his mother decides to visit him, and they drive to together to Lake Redwing where Packard’s grandfather used to own a lake house. The hope is to find out who lived around the lake when his brother was alive, and his mother hopes to see Louise Larsen, who purchased their family home.

Upon their arrival in Lake Redwing, Louise’s front door is sealed with police tape, and they discover that she died from a fall down her basement stairs the previous summer. When Packard lets himself into the house, he’s suspicious of the determination that Louise’s death was accidental and starts poking around that case as well.

That’s the setup. What follows takes so many turns. The more information Packard uncovers, the more suspect everyone in this affluent town becomes. It gives the classic small-town vibe of everyone knows everyone and everything, but everyone has secrets they’re trying to hide. And the deeper Packard gets into those secrets, the more dangerous the situation becomes.

By the end, there have been disappearances, murders, fraud, theft, cover-ups, you name it. This story overflows with action, and Packard finds himself at the center of everything. The author does a great job with the characters too. Packard describes his mom by saying “Her spirituality was an ever-evolving casserole of new age, Wiccan, Native, Buddhist, feminist, sex-positive beliefs that only made sense to her.” She’s a bit over the top…ok, a lot over the top, and the sex-positivity goes a little too far for my tastes, but I feel like it rings true for her character.

We get a taste for the friendship between Thielen and Packard in their interactions. When she mentions having some recent stomach issues and Packard suggests maybe she’s pregnant, she comes back with “Maybe you’re an asshole who should get out of my office if you’re not here to do any actual work.” But Packard regularly goes for dinner with her and her husband. They’re friends outside of work and bust each other’s chops on a regular basis.

I won’t give away how the whole story line unfolds or resolves. It’s a bit complicated, and I don’t want to spoil it anyway. I enjoyed seeing how everything wraps up, and I’m hopeful that Packard will find his place back in investigation (and maybe behind the Sheriff’s desk) in future books.

This third installment in the Ben Packard series was just as good as the first two and in some ways even better. This is a twisty police procedural with a great cast of suspects and finally we find out what happened to Ben’s brother when he disappeared decades ago.

Ben is such a great character. He is complex, diligent and has a lot of integrity. He follows his moral compass to find the truth even when that jeopardizes his job. He is also good at paying attention to details which is what makes him such a good detective. But he also questions himself at times which makes him work even harder to overcome his doubts about the investigations. The memories of his brother are woven into the story in such a way that makes them heartbreaking. I also loved his relationship with his mother, who is a bit much, but wants what is best for her son.

This book has three plots interwoven together to form a very interesting story. The book opens with Ben being involved in a shooting, which puts him on leave. This means he has a lot of time on his hands. He ends up looking at a death of an elderly woman more closely. These two stories intertwine with the mystery of what happened to Ben’s brother. All of the stories will keep you guessing as to what is really going on. The suspects are well rounded and written in a way that makes you think they are all guilty of something. The pacing is a little bit slow at times, but the characters keep you interested in knowing what happens. The truth of what happened to Ben is gut wrenching but gives the story closure.

I am hoping that this is not the last book featuring Ben Packard. I love the small town feel to the story and Ben is such a great character that I am not ready to say goodbye to. His fellow sheriffs are also a fun bunch to hang with. The mysteries are also well done and are twisty enough to keep you guessing until the end. This is a series I highly recommend.

Deputy Packard, on administrative leave while a shooting is investigated, has time to kill, so he returns to the home where he was raised. His childhood memories flood back, of the tragedy, when his older brother, aged sixteen, went missing. He was presumed to have drowned, but his body was never recovered. And now Ben starts to dig for answers. In the process, Ben unearths a second mystery in which a retired widow, was found at the bottom of the basement stairs. The easy answer is that she was drunk and just fell, but Ben isn’t so sure.

What a character! Ben Packard is a classic police detective, and Joshua Moehling does a great job of creating a fictional protagonist who sounds and acts true to life. He has a quirky personality and a quick wit. But he’s not my favorite character. Ben’s mama is the best! Oh, and there’s the three-legged corgi named Frank who’s also loveable.

A LONG TIME GONE is the third book in the series, but the story can stand alone.

Title: A Long Time Gone
Author: Joshua Moehling
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Pub date: 2/4/2025


Book 3 in the Ben Packard series.

Ben Packard is a police officer that just lost the Sheriff’s election. As he gets put on leave, he stumbles across a murder he feels driven to solve. He also wants to find out what happened years ago to his older (then teenage) brother who disappeared one winter night in MN.

Ben is an upstanding Deputy who is dogged in his determination to get answers wherever they may lead.

I couldn’t help but root for Ben Packard throughout the story. As the reader, you will discover the evidence as Packard does. The story will take you for a few twists and turns along the way. The further you get into the story, the more engrossing it became.

If you like police procedurals then you will enjoy this one. Ben Packard is one of my favorite reads.

Thank you #NetGalley and #PoisonedPenPress for the opportunity to read this story in advance.

I enjoyed the first two books in the Ben Packard series, and this was no exception. If you haven’t read the first two, I highly recommend reading them in order to get the full sequence of events, although this could be read as a standalone.

In this volume, Ben Packard is dealing with an officer-involved shooting, investigating the death of a woman who lived in his grandfather’s former house, and chasing newly found leads into the disappearance of his brother when Ben was only 12 years old.

The death investigation got a bit convoluted for me at one point, but it just slowed me down a bit, and I made sense of it. There is one sentence that pretty much gave away a major outcome, but the author then threw so many red herrings at the reader that I forgave him and kind of forgot that I knew where it was going.

Overall, this is an enjoyable book, and I hope there will be more Ben Packard to come.

Another great book in the Ben Packard series. Packard is a great character that everyone can root for. I love the way this one played out after Packard lost the election for sheriff in the last book. The new a-hole sheriff demotes Packard to court duty, no longer a detective. He's still intent on digging for information on his brother's disappearance when he was a kid, and he's set to get started investigating in his spare time when he stumbles upon a suspicious death in his grandfather's old house. Things quickly become complicated with people covering up crimes and Packard getting stuck in the crosshairs.

We finally get resolution into his brother's disappearance. An ending I don't think Ben was expecting, but a resolution nonetheless. I can't wait to see where this series goes next!

Joshua Moehling has become a must-read author for me. I loved this book, the serious procedural with laugh out loud moments filled with characters that I love, or love to hate.
I cried when we finally learned what happened to Nick. Such a fantastic book!

Ben Packard has solidified his place as one of my all-time favorite characters, and this series continues to deliver on every level. In this installment, the layers of mystery are exceptionally well-crafted, with multiple crimes and investigations unfolding simultaneously. A significant and emotional thread is Ben's relentless pursuit of answers about his older brother Nick’s disappearance when they were children—a storyline that adds depth and poignancy to the narrative.

I particularly enjoyed how the present-day crimes intricately intertwined with the mystery of Nick’s disappearance, creating a web of suspense that kept me hooked. The use of Ben’s childhood home as a pivotal location added an extra layer of tension and nostalgia to the story. Another highlight was seeing Ben venture outside Sandy Lake to follow leads, giving the plot a fresh dynamic while expanding the world of the series. Overall, this was a compelling and satisfying read that leaves me eager for the next chapter in Ben Packard's journey.

In the third installment of this somewhat gritty and dark series, Ben Packard returns. Fresh off his defeated attempt at running for sheriff, he gets unwittingly involved in a shooting that changes the course of his life. Lots of tightly woven mystery, along with some family interactions, romance, and answers to the past. Highly recommended for mystery fans, read the first 2 books beforehand.

After losing the election for sheriff, Deputy Ben Packard is currently on-leave and under investigation for a courthouse shooting. He feels he had a justified shot, but the powers-that-be need to do their investigation. Time off is not Ben's friend. He needs to be busy - and starts with a trip to his grandparents' home - the last place he saw his brother before he disappeared. He learns that the owner of the home died after falling down some stairs - and something about the evidence and the lack of an investigation doesn't sit well with Nate. And the neighbors - they are a very interesting supporting cast, and the reader is not sure what they are hiding. In addition to re-examining the homeowner's fall and the evidence that Ben keeps uncovering, Ben also takes a deep dive into learning more about his brother's disappearance. Ben's mom comes to visit - and she quickly becomes one of my all-time favorite characters! "A Long Time Gone" demonstrates Joshual Moehling's talent in writing both suspenseful crime fiction with human drama. Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced reader of this book - the opinions expressed are my own.

I love this series. Moehling has delivered another breakneck twisty procedural plot with excellent, well-developed characters - and book three provided a great wrap up to the mystery of Packard’s missing brother. Fingers crossed that there will be more books because I’m guessing this town has a lot more secrets to reveal!

The third book in the Ben Packard series is every bit as good as the first two. Great characters, a well paced plot, interesting relationships, and some real unexpected twists. I literally could not put it down, I read it straight through in one day. Highly recommended

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced reader copy

A Long Time Gone is the third book in the Ben Packard series by American author, Joshua Moehling. Having lost the election for Sheriff of Sandy Lake in the previous November to his ignorant, lazy colleague, Howard Shepard, Deputy Ben Packard is no longer on the detective desk, but relegated to the menial duty of courthouse security. Until, that is, he shoots someone in the line of duty and is on administrative leave pending the BCA investigation and the county attorney’s ruling on a charge.

Armed with the map the late Sheriff Stan Shaw left him, Ben would use the free time to search for his brother Nick’s body, but it’s February so the deep snow prevents that. But when he Zoom-calls his family to reassure them about the shooting, he also reveals the new information about their son/brother’s fate: not drowned in Redwing Lake as first thought.

Despite his protests, his mother Pam insists on travelling from Arizona to help sort Ben out spiritually: ”Her spirituality was an ever -evolving casserole of new age, Wiccan , Native, Buddhist, feminist, sex-positive beliefs that only made sense to her”. After visiting the approximate location, they also call in at what was his grandfather’s house, where the family spent many vacations, and from where Nick went missing some thirty years earlier.

Pam and Ben are shocked to learn that the most recent owner died after falling down the basement stairs months earlier. But a second visit to house has Ben doubting that Louise Larsen died accidentally, and he decides to investigate, much to the dismay of his boss, who was the careless deputy on the case, and his close colleague, Jill, who signed off on the accidental death, and to the extreme irritation of realtor, Jim Wolf, whose plans to pull down and rebuild are suddenly delayed.

The further he looks into it, the more things niggle, and when he stumbles on another body, he begins to realise there’s nothing simple about this case.

Meanwhile, during his mandatory psych eval, the therapist notes Ben’s approach to dealing with his life trauma’s so far and insightfully asks “What are you denying yourself by staying in a constant state of motion, by always moving forward, not slowing down, not looking back?” Talking later to a former colleague, Ben observes: “Dealing with shit on our own is not how things are supposed to work. Staying so busy you don’t have time to feel anything doesn’t help matters either.”

Moehling provides another tightly plotted police procedural with some excellent deductive work, and a twist or two that will keep the pages turning and the reader guessing right up to the final resolution. The dialogue offers plenty of humour, some of it quite dark, and the conclusion to Nick’s story will put a lump in many a throat.

Ben Packard is a complex and appealing character, a diligent cop who acts with integrity, and if they are to say goodbye to him in this third instalment, readers will certainly miss him and his well-intentioned, if humanly-flawed support cast. This is addictive crime fiction and anything further from Joshua Moehling will be a must-read!
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press.

Ben Packard is literally one of the best protagonists I’ve ever encountered in a crime fiction series. Joshua Moehling’s third installment, A LONG TIME GONE, is the most personal book in this series and fans of Moehling’s storytelling will want to prioritize this one!

Ben Packard’s brother disappeared when Ben was just a boy, leaving only the memory of him walking out the back door into the cold night and never returning. Now a deputy, Ben is on leave after a shooting and haunted by the resurfacing of new information that might finally lead him to his brother’s body. As he investigates the case, he uncovers a suspicious death that may be connected, facing resistance from all sides as he risks everything to uncover both the truth about his brother and a dangerous killer.

A LONG TIME GONE is a slower-paced novel than Moehling’s previous two releases, but it also goes deeper into the personal life of Ben Packard more than ever before. This series continues to deliver and the ending literally brought tears to my eyes. I’m excited to see where Moehling will go with the continuation of this series!