KISS HER GOODBYE is the fourth installment in Lisa Gardner’s series starring Frankie Elkin, who continues to be involved in unique adventures.

Frankie is an expert at finding missing people. Unlike Jeffery Deaver’s Colter Shaw, who collects reward money for each case he takes on, she works free of charge and simply gets involved for the challenge it poses. Frankie is also quite the complex character. She is a recovering alcoholic who sees things in a way that most people would not, earning her a great reputation that often precedes each new case she tackles.

"KISS HER GOODBYE peels away piece by piece like the skin from an onion as Lisa Gardner deftly reveals the secrets and details surrounding the investigation, which provides endless surprises and danger at every turn."

At the beginning of KISS HER GOODBYE, a prologue is set in Afghanistan where the eventual subject of Frankie’s latest investigation, Sabera Ahmadi, was dealing with a horrific existence that she and her husband, Isaad, were seeking to escape by fleeing to the United States. This speaks to the modern immigrant experience. Those who come to the US looking for a fresh start may not be free of the problems and horrors from which they escaped.

It is Sabera’s friend, Aliah, who first contacts Frankie and explains that she is worried about her. Isaad is a domineering husband, and Sabera’s sudden disappearance is quite concerning. Aliah is not convinced that Isaad is completely innocent and did not know where else to turn.

The case is set in Tucson, Arizona, where Frankie rents out the palatial guest house of a multi-million-dollar internet gamer who only asks that she help with the feeding of his slew of deadly lizards and various lethal snakes. In return, she gets to use the property, enjoy the cooking of the personal chef, and freely collaborate with his driver, an ex-con named Daryl, who knows the good and not-so-good sides of Tucson like the back of his hand. Frankie begins by having Daryl take her to the refugee center where most new citizens end up once they land on US soil. It’s an extremely dangerous part of town frequented by drug users.

Things take an unexpected turn for Frankie when Sabera becomes the lead suspect in a case where she was spotted leaving the scene of a brutal double murder. Was Sabera a potential victim, or could she be the killer the Feds are now seeking? If she is indeed guilty, Frankie needs to find out why and if she possibly was justified in the actions she took as a form of self-preservation from the violent world she obviously had not left behind in Afghanistan.

As Frankie continues to dig into Sabera’s background to further understand who she is and what she has experienced, she finds people who are both afraid for her and afraid of her. Someone is coming for Sabera and Isaad, and Frankie may have bitten off more than she can chew with perhaps the most dangerous case of her career.

KISS HER GOODBYE peels away piece by piece like the skin from an onion as Lisa Gardner deftly reveals the secrets and details surrounding the investigation, which provides endless surprises and danger at every turn.