It’s a rare book that makes me slow down reading, so I won’t finish it too quickly. That’s what happened a third of the way through A LONG TIME GONE. Ben Packard, former Sheriff, is now a Deputy in snowbound Sandy Lake, northern Minnesota. This police procedural, combined with a personal journey, is book three in the series, and I had not read the earlier ones.
Demoted to court security work but determined to behave with diligence and integrity, Ben is on duty when a courthouse shooting occurs, and he is put on administrative leave. He’s still a deputy, just not assigned. Ben’s mom, Pam, accompanies him to visit the family’s former lakeside home. Those days, it was just where people lived; now it’s worth big money. The lady they sold the house to turns out to have passed away, a few months ago, at a good age, after a Memorial Day barbecue party with neighbours. She fell down the cellar steps in her home. Ben’s former home. He can’t really articulate why he feels something is wrong. Maybe it's because visiting reawakened memories of Nick, his teenage brother, who vanished into the snow one night at the lakeside. His body was never found.
The elderly lady Louise Larsen was skimpily investigated, since the cause of death seemed clear, by Deputy Howard Shepard. Howard is now the Sheriff. His wealthy backer is Jim Wolf, a somewhat predatory land investor, and I had a chuckle at a Wolf putting a Shepard in charge. Ben lost the election but still knows more about the job and tactfully suggests things from time to time. The former Sheriff, Stan Shaw, left some cold case files, and Ben pulls out for review the case of his brother. While pursuing that trail, which starts at the lake house now owned by the estate of Louise Larsen, Ben keeps finding clues that Louise did not die naturally.
The category of police procedural is firmly adhered to, with evidence carefully preserved and written up, as Ben digs up corruption in Sandy Lake and beyond. This man thinks his way into empathy with victims of crime, even with some perpetrators. The story is fully up to date with news events referenced. Ben’s mother, Pam, is a lovely lady, determined to do her best for her son, setting him up with nice young men and telling him to enjoy life; he works too hard. The deputy being gay provides an interesting dimension. I also like seeing Ben caring for his rescue Corgi, Frank, and finding a missing witness through her spaniel. I had such a good time with Joshua Moehling’s A LONG TIME GONE. I hope to read the earlier books and any further stories in the Ben Packard series.
Ben Packard was just a boy when his older brother disappeared. Ben watched him walk out the back door of their grandparents' house and into the cold night.
His brother was never seen again.
Decades later, Deputy Packard finds himself with too much time on his hands. A shooting has him on leave and under investigation, and all he can do is dwell on the past. For the first time in years, new information about his brother has surfaced that may lead them to the location of a body.
The midwinter ground is frozen solid. Worse, Packard is cut off from department resources. As he strikes out to finally uncover the truth behind his brother's disappearance, he stumbles on a separate, suspicious death. A tenuous connection exists between the two cases, and as Packard starts to dig, he meets fierce resistance from friends and foes alike who want him to stand down.
The winter is long and cold. By the end of it, Packard will risk everything to catch a killer and reveal the shocking truth about his brother.
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