Last Girl Gone: A Laura Chambers Mystery

The journalism career of Laura Chambers, the star of Hetherton’s promising debut and series launch, was off to a good start when she landed at the Boston Globe. But then an exclusive story blew up, and she was spectacularly fired. Now she’s back home in Hillsborough, N.C., where she writes “small-town” stories for the Hillsborough Gazette, wonders if her career will ever rebound, and lives with her toxic mother in the farmhouse where she was raised. Laura’s coverage of a 10-year-old girl’s murder is the kind of story she can turn into national news, especially when a second girl, who may be a victim of the same killer, goes missing. Although that story gets hijacked by fellow reporter Colin Smythe, Laura proves her mettle to FBI special agent Tim Timinski, who refers her to unsolved cases from 30 years earlier also involving missing girls. Laura’s work with now-retired sheriff Donald Rodgers gives the plot heft and illustrates how sharp investigators span generations. Despite the occasional cliché, Hetherton delivers a realistic look at contemporary newsroom culture that bodes well for future installments. [em]Agent: Alice Martell, Martell Agency. (June) [/em]