Last Seen

Last Seen By J.L. Doucette
This mystery takes place over the period between the frigid month between December and January. Just about a months time. This is a fantastic novel that takes place in Wyoming. It is the first of a series featuring a cast of original characters.
Dr Pepper Hunt---a psychologist that councils Kimi and an assortment of other characters in her brand new practice. She is still haunted by a patient of hers in Cambridge, MA whose jealous rage compels her to murder Dr. Pepper Hunt's cheating husband and his girlfriend.

Kimi---is a girl who goes missing after her last session with Dr. Pepper Hunt who suffers from disassociate behavior, who loses large chunks of time out of her day and can't remember where or what she did. Kimi is a Native American who is working as a newspaper reporter who is digging up the past rapes of various women who are all tied to a serial rapist who lets his victims go.
---Cedric Yee---is Kimi's boss at the newspaper and close friends with Kimi,
---Marla---is the Sheriff's wife who is Dr. Pepper Hunt's secretary.
---Beau is leading the investigation into Kimi's disappearance and reports only to the Sheriff
---Many of the character's are from the tribe called Arapaho and are proud of their heritage.
===Trying to assimilate from their Arapaho beliefs while trying to be citizens of Wyoming.
===There is infidelity, small town politics, Cassie who is a probation/parole officer and is Kimi's best
friend.
---Dr. Pepper Hunt who is starting her life anew is the psychologist who is the main character who
narrates this story along with Beau, who is rounding up suspects, to find the missing Kimi.
===Kimi's husband is the chief suspect who obstructs Beau's investigation by lying about where he
was and who he is secretly romancing at the exact day his wife goes missing.

---Dr Pepper Hunt wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to her office to work and she discovers her office has been broken in and files were missing. She immediately calls Beau Antelope, because he is the only one she trusts. It took him less than five minutes to arrive. He was all business, immediately called for crime scene techs to come. We both knew that this was no random break-in.
After the forensic crew completed their work "I made a quick search of the files and discovered that Kimi Benally's file was missing. It would take hours to sort through every file and determine if anything else was taken. But one thing was certain: the thief believed there was something in Kimi Benally's records that he--or she--wanted to keep hidden."
There are no leads and the more that time goes on the less chance becomes of finding Kimi alive.

This was a highly suspenseful taut mystery that reaches up to the highest echelons of power. The characterizations of Dr. Hunt and Beau Antelope are extremely professional and very likable. They are the two main characters in a plethora of many minor characters that give this work realism and it takes place in a mid-western county that is truly Wyoming. The landscape is vividly described and it is freezing cold temperatures. It is a true blend of society and could happen anywhere. The Author is coming out with another book in this series and she has a PhD in psychology that she earned in Boston. It was a pleasure to read this novel and it is one of those books you can't put down. There is a twisty turn at the end that I partially saw coming, but was still surprised.
Highly Recommended. Five Stars

A huge Thank you to Net Galley, the lovely J.L. Doucette and She Writes Press Publishing for my digital copy in exchange for a fair and honest review. '

After her husband is murdered. psychologist/police consultant, Dr. Pepper Hunt, can no longer stand to run their joint practice. She sells up and moves to Wyoming, hoping for a quieter life and a way to forget. But she won’t get a chance to relax, because one of her new clients, Kimi Benally, disappears right after their session and right into a blizzard. Pepper offers to help local police detective, Beau Antelope search for the girl, Pepper is, after all the last person to see her and she knows all about Kimi’s obsession with the past. Pepper’s search for the girl reopens only recently closed wounds of her own and she’s not sure she can hold it together long enough to find Kimi – dead or alive. Doucette brings the wilds of Wyoming to life in this tightly plotted mystery