Throwback Thursday: Mercy Street by Mariah Stewart

 

Author: Mariah Stewart
First published in  2008 by Random House

On a balmy spring evening, four high school seniors - three boys and a girl - enter a park in the small Pennsylvania city of Conroy. The next morning, two of the boys are found shot to death, and the girl and the third boy are gone. After three weeks with no leads and no sign of either of the two missing teenagers, the chief of police begins to wonder if they too were victims. But with no other suspects, the authorities conclude that one of these kids was the shooter. The missing boy's grandmother, a secretary at the local parish church, maintains his innocence. On her behalf, the parish priest, Father Kevin Burch, hires former detective Mallory Russo as a private investigator to figure out what happened in the park that night. 

I have to say, I really enjoyed Mercy Street.  It's a good solid mystery with great characters. I listened to the audio book and I found myself not wanting to turn it off.  Mallory Russo is a great character.  She was a good solid cop, who tried to do the right thing and got side-lined in the process.  I felt badly for her as the cops she used to work with made her feel like a pariah.  She is smart and tough.  She and Charlie, her replacement on the police squad, made a great team.  There is also the bonus of a very strong attraction between them.

The mystery of the missing teenagers was very well planned out.  I thought is had a good balance between suspense and action.  There is also the back mystery of what happened to Robert Magellan's family.  It looks like it will be a story arch over the next books in the series.  I have the next one, Cry Mercy in my TBR pile ready to go!