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This is the second book by Patricia Sprinkle that I have read. (Who invited the Dead Man? was the third in this series I read first.) What catches me is her titles - When did we lose Harriet? Harriet somehow is the central character of this mystery but we only see her in the first two chapters. The remainder of the story has MacLaren Yarbrough searching for this young girl she has never met.
Mac comes home to Montgomery Alabama because her baby brother, Jake (late 50's) has a heart attack and is being ornery about having surgery. Mac is called upon to take his place at the teen center where she discovers a library book filled with $3000 cash. She determines that it belongs to a girl named Harriet and sets out to return them to the owner. Along the way she finds person after person, who can't even remember the last time that they saw Harriet and she is amazed at their lack of concern for someone that they are responsible for. Mac manages throughout her search to find out where Harriet got the money, what she wanted to do with the money, and eventually where to find Harriet. This is an excellently written mystery that confounds the reader until the very end. All the clues are subtly distributed throughout. I will definitely be looking for the next in the series. ( )

trash if can't save