Before It's Too Late

August 14, 2017
In Driscoll’s fine follow-up to 2016’s Lone Wolf, a killer sends coded messages with clues to the whereabouts of kidnapped women to Meg Jennings of the FBI’s Forensic Canine Unit. When the FBI’s cryptanalysis unit deciphers the first message, Meg and her black Labrador, Hawk, along with other members of their team, find the first victim buried in a grave in Arlington National Cemetery. The coffin contains both the dead woman and the body of a soldier killed in combat. A second clue leads to a second victim, and several things become obvious. First, the killer is fixated on Meg; second, the victims resemble Meg; third, each clue connects the victim with a site tied to the Civil War. When Meg is suspended from the case, she turns for unofficial assistance to her sister, Cara, a word games expert. The tension rises as the killer targets Meg and her family. Driscoll nicely incorporates various Civil War locations and trivia into the mystery, while Meg and Hawk prove themselves a formidable team that readers will want to see more of. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency.

September 15, 2017
A kidnapper is sending FBI Special Agent Meg Jennings a series of ciphers laying out the location of his victims. The women are left alive but just barely. If Jennings doesn't find them in time, they will die. The victims are all dog owners, like Jennings, who is devoted to Hawk, her search-and-rescue Labrador. The women also bear a striking physical resemblance to Jennings. With lives on the line, Jennings breaks Bureau protocol and brings in her brilliant sister, Cara, to decode the kidnappers' twisted clues. Sara Driscoll is a pseudonym for the writing team of Jen J. Danna and Ann Vanderlaan, who also write the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)