Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by realadhdoug
Did You Miss Me? by Karen Rose
4.5
Another great mystery in the Baltimore series from Karen Rose. In this story, the focus turns toward Grayson’s adoptive brother and FBI agent Joseph Carter and the recurring bubbly southern belle prosecutor Daphne Montgomery. Both of these characters have—up to this point been given very shallow personalities. In this book, they take on substantial depth, especially in Daphne’s case. It’s almost jarring how full her backstory is revealed to be, given the very surface-level friendly office lady persona she’d had in the first two books.
All of Karen Rose’s books tend to develop supporting characters, in addition to the central ones, presumably to set up a premise for future novels. This one seemed to go extra hard on that, though, since a large amount of time was given to the interactions between Stevie and Clay. Daphne’s son Ford also took on a central role and—reading this novel over a decade later—I know he gets his own story too. Additional, they brought some characters back in from the Philadelphia series I read earlier this year. Perhaps that’s why this novel seemed longer than it needed to be. If there’s one gripe I have, it’s that it was a little dragged out. The plot didn’t need to take that long to resolve.
That being said, the characters were pretty good. I actually like that it intersected with the Philadelphia series (as well as a future series in another city). This novel broadened the Rose-verse more than any I’ve read so far. More specifically, though, I really appreciated Daphne. She’s a survivor in more ways than one.
In addition to the characters, the mystery was fantastic. You knew who the villain was the entire time—the big reveal was how exactly he was connected to Daphne. Karen Rose is the master of the sleight-of-hand, because the link was definitely not who I expected it to be.
Fun story. Definitely recommend!
All of Karen Rose’s books tend to develop supporting characters, in addition to the central ones, presumably to set up a premise for future novels. This one seemed to go extra hard on that, though, since a large amount of time was given to the interactions between Stevie and Clay. Daphne’s son Ford also took on a central role and—reading this novel over a decade later—I know he gets his own story too. Additional, they brought some characters back in from the Philadelphia series I read earlier this year. Perhaps that’s why this novel seemed longer than it needed to be. If there’s one gripe I have, it’s that it was a little dragged out. The plot didn’t need to take that long to resolve.
That being said, the characters were pretty good. I actually like that it intersected with the Philadelphia series (as well as a future series in another city). This novel broadened the Rose-verse more than any I’ve read so far. More specifically, though, I really appreciated Daphne. She’s a survivor in more ways than one.
In addition to the characters, the mystery was fantastic. You knew who the villain was the entire time—the big reveal was how exactly he was connected to Daphne. Karen Rose is the master of the sleight-of-hand, because the link was definitely not who I expected it to be.
Fun story. Definitely recommend!