Lost Little Girl

YA author Stout (Gideon’s Ghost) makes his adult debut with a solid mystery, a series launch introducing Nashville PI Jackson Gamble. A former cop, Jackson was once assigned to the local prosecutor’s office, where he was turned off by its corruption, driven by a district attorney devoted to making deals to let select guilty people off the hook. Jackson’s skills and ethics are put to the test when hospital employee Delsey Lee Hawkins asks him to find her missing 14-year-old daughter, Gabrielle. Delsey Lee is sure her child would never leave home voluntarily, but she’s failed to get the police to take seriously her suspicions of an abduction. In her desperation, Delsey Lee has sought out Jackson against the wishes of her husband, an ultra-conservative pastor who believes when and if his daughter returns is “part of God’s plan” and who opposes active measures to find her. The case, which begins by Jackson interviewing Gabrielle’s high school guidance counselor and her best friend, soon becomes much more involved than he expected. Stout is especially good at rendering Nashville’s seedy underbelly. Fans of Jaden Terrell’s Nashville-based Jared McKean series will want to take a look. (Self-published)