In the Prologue to GONE IN THE NIGHT, we witness a man named Cyrus Merriman, who we later learn is a powerful attorney, removing his wedding ring and sticking it in his overcoat pocket before entering a small pub in the Chicago area on a snowy evening. He sees his target --- an attractive young woman dominating a young man at the pool table --- and approaches her. One thing leads to another, and they leave together.

The woman insists they walk to her place for the anticipated physical tryst, and he stops by a shop on the way to purchase cigarettes and condoms. He lends his overcoat to the woman, who then finds the wedding ring in the pocket and confronts him about it. After a sad attempt to claim he was separated, she chucks the ring into a lake and stabs Cyrus to death, rolling his body into the nearly frozen water.

"GONE IN THE NIGHT is a highly suspenseful read that continues to allow Joanna Schaffhausen to develop her characters in an outstanding mystery series that always delivers."

This is a heavy beginning to Joanna Schaffhausen’s fifth mystery featuring Detective Annalisa Vega. Schaffhausen has attacked this series with the same surgical precision that I’m sure she used as a neuroscientist. There have been running themes in this highly enjoyable series, including family secrets, guilt and revenge. Annalisa is now a very pregnant PI taking on cases that typically involve one or more of those themes. Her husband, Detective Nick Carelli, does not like the idea of her working cases in her condition. But he realizes that her background, which is fueled by villainous behavior on the part of her own family, drives her in a way that initially made her change up her career choice from the law to police work.

Annalisa learns at a family gathering that her long-incarcerated brother Alex, a true killer, has requested that she visit him in prison. When she shows up, she is surprised to see another man with him. Joe Green was arrested 13 years ago for Cyrus Merriman’ murder, which readers instantly will realize could not be accurate. He claims he was set up and that the only eyewitness to the alleged crime, a dog walker, was lying. Joe shares that the actual killer sent him a taunting typewritten note indicating this very fact. Annalisa agrees to take his case and is immediately dismayed to find that the officer who oversaw the crime that put Green behind bars was none other than her husband.

To further complicate matters, Annalisa and Nick are led to a local shelter for abused women where there may be some individuals with secret information that not only could clear Green of all charges but also could connect him to a series of related murders. This is confirmed by a marking now found on multiple bodies, also killed and dumped in a lake, of what looked like the letter “B.” Most of these homicides happened while Green was in prison, which points toward his innocence and the existence of a serial killer that the local PD missed.

Now, as Annalisa continues to press on, she runs into a number of potential suspects, all of whom might have had a reason for wanting Green behind bars as a form of retribution against not one but two previous wives. Little does Annalisa know that her continued perseverance in this case also might be placing a mark on Nick’s back.

GONE IN THE NIGHT is a highly suspenseful read that continues to allow Joanna Schaffhausen to develop her characters in an outstanding mystery series that always delivers.