![Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner front cover](https://crimefictionlover.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/BeforeSheDisappeared300.jpg)
After over a decade Lisa Gardner has given us a new standalone novel. It’s a cracker too, with a compelling central character. Frankie Elkin is a middle-aged white woman, an alcoholic and a loner who is also addicted to finding missing people. She’s a rank amateur, but surprisingly good at what she does – although all the missing people she has found so far have been dead. Now she’s arrived in Boston’s Mattapan neighbourhood, determined to discover the fate of teenager Angelique Badeau, a Haitian immigrant who vanished from her high school in the middle of the day, 11 months ago, but it’s going to be an uphill task.