Review: "Forgotten Trail" by Claire Kells

 

Forgotten Trail by Claire Kells
Published November 2023 via Crooked Lane Books
★★★

It's a new case for Harland and Hux—this time they're heading into Pinnacles National Park to investigate a definitely dead hotel guest and a possibly missing woman.

I'm loving this series—you can't go wrong with an excuse to send your lead characters out into the wild in every single book. I'd never even heard of Pinnacles National Park, but I'm fascinated by the idea of a (fictional) hike-in hotel. That's one way to cut yourself off from the outside world for a few days...

Forgotten Trail feels more balanced to me than An Unforgiving Place (book two in the series) did in terms of consistency of backstory—in book one, the heroine had chronic pain that was manageable but a major factor throughout the book; in book two, it barely existed; in book three, it's something that she still has to be mindful of but is manageable. I'm also delighted to see that we have only a slooooow progression of romance (why delighted, you ask? One, because I'm in it for the mysteries and the national parks rather than for the romance; two, because slooooow romance means hopefully many books in the series)—and that the hints that Harland will eventually make it to Australia in the series are getting stronger.

The mystery gets a little convoluted at times (I'm still confused by the shoe), but it was nice to see a cold case worked in—as soon as Harland mentioned working on some cold cases, I perked up. I'm not sure why—I think there's something satisfying in the chance to firmly close a box that has long been hanging open. I read an ARC and am hoping that the book will go through a last read for consistency and loose ends before the publication date, but I'm looking forward to reading more in the series.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.