“The writing is top-notch, and the action builds at just the right pace . . . [Amateur sleuth] Lola Wicks is going to be around for a long, long time.” —Kirkus Reviews
For a foreign correspondent used to the high stakes of war zones in Afghanistan, Lola Wicks is getting restless working the local news beat in the small town of Magpie, Montana. So when Judith Calf Looking, a Blackfeet woman who has been missing for months, is found frozen in a snowbank, Lola’s journalist instincts go on alert.
The sheriff, otherwise known as the romantic reason Lola is still in Magpie, believes Judith froze while hitchhiking back to the reservation. But when Lola learns that Judith had been working as a stripper in a small North Dakota oil town, and that several Blackfeet women have gone missing over the past year, she sets out in search of answers. What she finds is a world full of tough men and corrupt cops, where women are treated poorly and no one cares. For the first time in a long time, Lola may be in over her head. Not that a little danger has ever stopped her. . . .
Praise for the Lola Wick mysteries
“A gutsy series.” —The New York Times
“Outstanding . . . Believable action complements razor-sharp observations of people and scenery.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review on Montana
“A gut-wrenching mystery/thriller that explores prejudice and the incredible stress on soldiers in a seemingly unending war with no clear goals.” —Kirkus Reviews on Disgraced
“Gwen Florio weaves a compelling tapestry that combines family saga, social consciousness and human frailty.” —Craig Johnson, New York Times–bestselling author on Disgraced
Gwen Florio, a former editor at the Missoulian, is an award-winning journalist and an adjunct professor in University of Montana’s School of Journalism. Florio is the author of the Lola Wicks crime series as well as Silent Hearts, a novel set in Afghanistan. Her first novel, Montana, won the Pinckley Prize for Debut Novel, and a High Plains Book Award. Best Laid Plans, the first book in her new crime series, the Nora Best Mysteries, published in 2020. She currently lives in Montana with her partner and dog.