THE MYSTIC AND THE MISSING GIRL stars tarot reader and reluctant psychic Drew Benson, who returns to her small, lakeside hometown to run her late aunt’s esoteric shop. If that wasn’t challenging enough, her high school nemesis, now a reporter, turns up asking for help in solving the cold case of a missing teen - the same case that tanked the reputation of Drew’s late aunt - a TV psychic known as Hannah Mystic. THE MYSTIC AND THE MISSING GIRL is a cozy mystery with a touch of the supernatural and steeped in nineties nostalgia. Here are a few of the songs, all beloved Millennial staples, that play a role in the book or helped shape the characters.
All I Really Want (Alanis Morrisette)
Gigi (aka Gloria Gong) is Drew’s longtime partner-in-crime and the ultimate cool best friend. A defining moment for Gigi is being kicked out of class for wearing a tee that is deemed “too provocative for the school environment.” The tee in question says INTELLECTUAL INTERCOURSE, which is a reference to the Alanis Morissette classic All I Really Want from the era-defining Jagged Little Pill. This anecdote is based on an actual incident in which my grade seven teacher asked a girl in my class to put a sweater on over a tee with the very same saying. I can’t remember if it was actual Alanis merch (in the mid-nineties we were more likely to make our own), but I do remember her protesting that we would all be better off with more intellectual intercourse, which struck me as undeniably cool.
Down by the Water (PJ Harvey)
While searching through missing teen Ginny Evan’s online chat history for something the police may have missed, Drew reminisces about her own teenage digital imprint, including the tirades she would leave on message boards about the genius of P.J. Harvey and Courtney Love. Both singers represent the rebellious, groundbreaking women artists that burst onto the scene in the nineties. As an elder millennial, Drew would have been on the younger end of this fandom. But what is more Millennial then looking up to and desperately wanting to be like Gen X? These old school message boards may have disappeared, but one could argue that they have been reincarnated as Reddit threads.
The Sign (Ace of Base)
In her sleuthing, Drew stumbles across old video footage of Ginny and her friends performing a dance routine to The Sign - a song that was played on the radio every hour on the hour for (at least) three straight years. Today, kids show off their dance moves on TikTok for an audience of millions. In the nineties, sleepovers were dedicated to studying music videos taped off the TV and recreating them for someone’s family camcorder. This recovered footage of Ginny (and the song) is a nod to the most classic of tween pastimes - making up dances with your friends. It’s also a reminder of more innocent times, particularly for Ginny.
Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler)
Nick Campbell, Drew’s ex-chemistry partner and high school nemesis, now a reporter investigating the Ginny Evans case, is a classic Type A Virgo - rational, detail-oriented, and more than a little buttoned-up. Or as Gigi describes him, “Mr. Ironed Pleats.” So, it comes as a delightful surprise when Drew spies his “Ladies of the Eighties” playlist - suggesting a karaoke star lurking beneath his mild-mannered surface. There are many divas I can include on this list (Janet, Madonna, Whitney, Donna, Cyndi, Debbie, Pat) - but the first person that comes to mind is Bonnie Tyler and her epic Total Eclipse of the Heart. RIP, Bonnie! Your music will live on through karaoke - carpool or otherwise - ad infinitum.
Mr. Brightside (The Killers)
Normally, (former) soft Goth Drew and Riot Grrrl Gigi wouldn’t be caught dead dancing joyously to The Killers, but this earlier 2000s banger is hard to resist, especially when you’ve crashed (someone else’s) prom and (maybe) spiked the punch. While not a nineties song (it was released in 2003), it was a club staple for elder millennials and often associated with the heady, “anything can happen” vibe of your early twenties. Nostalgia is a drug - love it or hate it, this club staple has graduated to a wedding staple - a true mark of longevity.
Narrator: Veronica Hortiguela
Small town secrets, a reluctant psychic, and a cold case that could expose them all.
Reluctant psychic Drew Benson can read tarot cards and get impressions from objects—she just never expected to use her gifts to investigate an infamous cold case.
Drew Benson has a secret. She gets visions, something she hasn’t tapped into since she was a teenager, when her late aunt, a TV psychic known as Hannah Mystic, became the scapegoat in the unsolved disappearance of a local teenager. Twenty years later, Drew is happy to ignore her gift, focusing instead on keeping the metaphysical shop she inherited from Hannah afloat, wrangling her sole, astrology-obsessed employee, and dodging local rake Foster Banks in her picturesque lakeside hometown.
But when Drew's arch-nemesis from high school, now a big city reporter, decides to investigate the cold case from all those years ago, it’s Drew’s ability that could finally make a break in the decades old mystery. With bills piling up, a disapproving mother laying on the guilt, and a local vandal who wants Drew and her witchy store gone, Drew has a lot to lose. But what she stands to gain—finding out what happened to the missing teen, clearing her aunt’s name, and a second chance at belonging—could change everything.
In The Mystic and the Missing Girl, Vikki VanSickle seamlessly draws readers into an utterly charming world in this unputdownable, small town mystery.
Mystery Woman Sleuth | Mystery Psychological | Mystery Amateur Sleuth [ Minotaur Books, On Sale: September 8, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9781250461100 / eISBN: 9781250461117 ]
VIKKI VANSICKLE has worked as a bookseller, a menstrual health educator, a creative writing instructor and publishing professional with Penguin Random House Canada. Currently, she lives and writes in Toronto and hosts a book segment on CTV Your Morning.
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