Joanna Schaffhausen has continually written fantastic under-the-radar mystery/suspense books, and she has another winner with Dead and Gone, the third book in the Annalisa Vega series. I would love to see her get more attention for her books, but it gives me the privilege of pushing them on anyone I know that loves the genre. In the latest Vega novel, Annalisa is pulled in by her boss when a former cop and current private investigator, Sam Tran, is found dead. To try and find out if someone has a motive for wanting Sam dead, not only is she investigating his death, but several cold cases he was working and an active case that quickly gets very personal - Annalisa's brother Vinny had hired Sam to find out who has been stalking his daughter Quinn on her college campus. With little to go on in the Tran case, Annalisa quickly gets herself neck deep in the case involving her niece. With the Ken doll cop on campus unenthusiastic about her investigating, and tense family dynamics, Annalisa has a tough job on her hands. Then Quinn's roommate goes missing and the suspect list begins to pile up. The primary storyline of the book is the one involving Quinn and her friends, but Schaffhausen incorporating other mysteries that need to be solved helps the reader from getting too focused on the whodunit of that particular storyline. And like her other Vega novels, several of these cases leave Annalisa in a moral conundrum, when following the rules of law doesn't always feel like the best option.

I absolutely love this series and this book did not disappoint. Annalisa Vega is a fantastic character and Schaffhausen has written another amazing procedural that starts off quick and keeps your attention from beginning to end. I loved the link from the current case to the one from potentially twenty years ago, and the rush to solve the current one before Annalisa’s niece is hurt. The college campus setting was also perfection, and I cannot wait to see what is up next for Vega.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the copies to review.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

This was my first Joanna Schaffhausen book and it will definitely not be my last! This book is part of a series, but I was able to read and understand everything that was going on without having read all the previous books. I don’t feel like you necessarily need to read the other books in the series prior to reading this one! I felt like this was such a good mystery book that just kept the reader guessing the entire time. It was a fast paced novel as well, which just helped the story move along and kept me wanting to try the page! The author also did a good job at setting up the reader for the next book that is going to come out and I am definitely looking forward to that one as well!

Detective Annalisa Vega juggles multiple investigations, including a couple of cold cases, a new murder, and some sinister going-on at her niece’s college campus. The personal and the professional intersect throughout the novel, as Annalisa balances the sometimes competing concerns of family and her job. This is an excellent installment in the series—a confident, well-written police procedural filled with clever observations and delightful touches of humor. The ending is satisfying but also nods to the difficulty of knowing when to let an investigation go.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a digital advance review copy.

3.5 stars

This is the third book in the Annalisa Vega detective series, and while it was still good, it was my least favorite installment so far. I’m taking a pros and cons approach to this review

Pros:
• A mystery that keeps you guessing
• entertaining characters
• good balance of levity and seriousness
• good set up for book 4
• interesting look at family secrets

Cons:
• police work was a lil questionable tbh
• Annalisa stop (literally) chasing murderers by yourself
• Several cases in the book meant a lot was wrapped up in the last 50 pages and felt a bit rushed
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Really this is an amazing series as a whole and is definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re a fan of intriguing mysteries and/or crime procedurals. Thanks to @stmartinspress for granting me access to this one on Netgalley! I love this series so I had to buy my own copy!

Thank you to NetGalley, Joanna Schaffhausen and St Martin’s Press for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Well I have got to say that I was shocked by the million twists and turns in this novel and I can’t wait to see what happens next after that ending. I love this series and I can’t believe how drastically it’s about to change!

Dead And Gone is another excellent installment in the Detective Annalisa Vega series by Joanna Schaffhausen. Vega is a strong main character with a lot of baggage. She is a detective in Chicago and because of something she did (see the first book in the series) many police officers treat her like she’s the enemy. She has been rebuilding her relationship with her ex-husband (Nick), who is also a detective, and is currently her partner, in both senses of the word.

As with previous books, there’s a lot going on in this book! The book opens with a creepy scene at a Halloween party on a college campus. Then a former cop turned PI, Sam Tran, is found murdered. Vega is trying to figure out who killed him by working his open cases - one of which involves her niece, Quinn, who is being stalked on her nearby college campus. And a man in a chicken mask has been robbing convenience stores. At times, I had a bit of trouble remembering which case was which, but that was a minor issue.

I kept changing my mind about who the stalker creep was!

You could read this one as a standalone, as the author provides enough background for the reader and the cases explored in this book don’t really reach back to what’s happened in the previous two in the series. Of course, you’ll miss the underlying backstory of Annalisa’s family issues.

I thought that this was going to be the last book in the series but I see that there’s another one, All The Way Gone, projected to publish in 2024! I’ll be sure to read that one when it becomes available!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book, although I was a bit late to it. I bounced between the ARC and the published audiobook, courtesy of my public library. The narrator, Kelsey Navarro Foster, did a good job with the various voices and accents. All opinions are my own.

Kept me intrigued from the moment I started. Fast paced and kept me guessing. Well written and I will be looking for more books from this author!

Detective Annalisa Vega is back with her 'throw caution to the wind' ways, and now her niece Quinn has taken a page from her aunt’s playbook! The result? In my opinion, the best book in the series so far. I couldn’t get enough of all the horrible decision-making going on here!

I shouldn’t judge. Annalisa’s headstrong ways make her a formidable enemy to criminals, and in this story, there was quite a collection of them: a loose-cannon thief called the Chicken Bandit, a cold-case murderer, and a gorilla-suit clad stalker who’s tormenting her niece Quinn on her college campus. When it rains it pours, as they say!

There’s a LOT going on in this book, but I loved that. When a story is engaging and keeps me turning pages, I’m happy to buckle up and go along for the ride, and this was such a fun one.

Quinn was a great character, in her own right, and she definitely has a taste for her aunt’s foolhardy ways, but like Annalisa, she’s also clever, strong and determined, and it’s nice to see female characters with intelligence and spunk, even if some of their decisions get them into trouble (repeatedly)! I also enjoyed spending more time with the rest of the Vega clan and seeing the evolution of Annalisa’s relationship with Nick.

Schaffhausen’s writing is stellar, as always. Once again, she stitched the pieces of her story together like a master seamstress and left me eagerly awaiting Annalisa’s next adventure. Some big changes are in the air, and I can’t wait to see how they play out!

The third in the Vega series follows Annalisa Vega as she puzzles to unravel a cold case file left by a former police detective. As she seeks answers in the cold case, Annalisa must also search for the Chicken Bandit. Vega connects with her niece when called because of a stalking incident at school. Vega is getting pulled in multiple directions at once, and one misstep could mean the difference between catching a killer or the killer escaping. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the read.

📖Review
3🌟🌟🌟
📖Book 78/100
📚Dead and Gone
💫Genre: Mystery/Thriller
✍️Author: Joanna Schaffhausen

📝Synopsis 📝
Analissa Vega needs to find who killed Sam Bar. But in order to find whodunnit, she must dig into this ex-cop turned PI’s cases and past to uncover what happened.

💭My Thoughts 💭
🚨👀Stalker Alert👀🚨
I read this as a stand-alone,
and it didn’t disappoint. The plot moved in many directions which are interesting. I enjoyed having Analissa’s narrative and her niece Quinn. The banter between Analissa and Nick was also a good throw in. Its always a plus when you are able to like and connect with the main character. I would have loved the mystery to have had more focus though, the detective worked was meh. I felt the uncovering of the whodunnit in itself to be a tad bit rushed.
Thanks Netfalley and St. Martins Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
✨✨✨✨✨
#bookstagrammer #bookstagrammersunite #bookstacommunity
#bookreview #bookrecommendations #bookrecommendation #booklovers #booklover #thrillerbooks #murdermysterybooks #DeadandGone #bookworms #bibliophile

Annalisa has been called in to a case she never wanted. Sam Tran, an ex cop, has been found hanging from a tree with an ominous message around his neck. Annalisa soon discovers that her own brother, Vinny, hired Sam to find a stalker. The stalker is after Annalisa’s niece. Needless to say, Annalisa is not happy being out of the loop.

This is part of a series. I have not read the others and it is not necessary. But because this book was very good, I am definitely going to go back and get the others.

This was very close to a five star read for me. I loved the intricacies and all of the twist and turns. I really enjoyed Annalisa. She is intelligent and tough. Now, her niece, Quinn, is just not my favorite. But she is young and makes stupid choices. Then there is Annalisa’s brother, Vinny. I think he was my favorite character. He comes on like any father of a teenage daughter. He had me smiling at his antics to keep Quinn close.

The hunt for the killer and stalker is creatively intertwined. I loved how one death of an ex cop lead to the revelation of a murderer from a twenty year murder case.

Need a wonderful thriller…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

Thank you so much to @minotaur_books for my advanced copy of @joannaschaffhausen ‘s newest edition to the Annalisa Vega series!!

Dead and Gone follows Detective Vega as she investigates the murder of Sam Tran, an ex-cop and PI working on unsolved cases. Who would want him dead and can Annalisa come out alive herself?

I loved this book! It worked great as a stand alone but I highly recommend the others first! They give such great backstory that is not as evident if read as a stand alone. I love that Annalisa grew so much in this book. By the end, I was loving her more than ever! I am so impressed with the author of this book! She was able to keep straight 4 distinct crimes and keep the book under a gazillion pages! I did guess the ending to one of the prominent cases but I was clueless on the others which softened the blow of guessing! Her writing was phenomenal and the misdirection was some of the best I’ve read in a while! READ THIS SERIES PLEASE!

I'm so sad that this seems to be the end of the Detective Vega series. I've really enjoyed all three of them.

Dead and Gone might be my least favorite of the three, but I still liked it quite a bit. Detective Vega is investigating a convenience store burglar that wears a chicken mask (I know, wth). Then, she gets called to investigate the alleged murder of a PI, who has several open files, and Detective Vega is convinced his murderer is tied to one of these cases. So she starts looking into all of them. More importantly, her niece Quinn is at college and seems to have a stalker. She's getting creepy texts and notes on her whiteboard, and the dead PI was hired by Quinn's dad to find out who is stalking her. AND on top of all that, there's some guy at the college that wants to inject women with some kind of sedative and assault them. PLUS, there's the relationship between Vega and her partner/exhusband Nick.

So all of these plots got kind of hard to keep up with, but they all made me curious at the same time. By the end I was kind of like "oh. okay" once everything got wrapped up, and nothing really GETS wrapped up until the end. It was all a bit much.

I will definitely read more by this author though - her books are engaging and keep me guessing!

This compelling and multilayered police procedural follows Annalisa Vega as she investigates the murder of a private detective who is killed under mysterious circumstances. Dead and Gone is the third book in the Annalisa Vega series but it could be read as a standalone. This book grabbed my attention right away with its mysterious and unsettling prologue. The mystery that ensues is twisty and suspenseful. Annalisa is a complex and interesting character that readers can easily identify with. Her growing relationship with Nick Carelli and the dynamic between the two of them adds a fun element to the story. There were quite a few subplots and at times it felt like there was a little too much going on but I still couldn’t put it down. There are some big surprises at the end of this novel and I can't wait to see where life takes Annalisa Vega.

Chicago police detective Annalisa Vega cannot get away from investigating cops... even former ones. Her boss pulls her in to the case of Sam Tran, once a cop and now a PI, who is found hanging from a tree with a terrible message across his chest. Annalisa digs into Sam's cases, wondering if he found something that someone would rather have left buried. Her investigation reveals her own brother, Vinny, was a client. Sam was looking into a stalker on her niece Quinn's college campus.

Oh Annalisa, I just want to give her a hug. She's still haunted by her past choices related to her family--Pop is sick and on house arrest; another brother is in jail; the rest of the family, including Quinn, blame her; and other cops distrust her. She has her partner (in every sense of the word) Nick, but even those two have a troubled history.

As always, this is an excellent entry from Schaffhausen. She expertly weaves in several cases along with appearances from Annalisa's family. It was great to see Quinn, who plays a big role in this book. More Vegas! There are plenty of cases and a lot to keep us guessing. The stalker on Quinn's campus, Sam Tran's murder and his associated cases, and then Annalisa and Nick are tracking down a robbery suspect known as the Chicken Bandit. We get pulled into Tran's cold cases, as Annalisa worries that they may have something to do with his death. It seems like a lot, but they all meld together perfectly.

I love Schaffhausen's books because they are a great balance of police procedural and Annalisa's family life. She attempts to deal with the ramifications of turning in her father and brother, her future with Nick, and now, Quinn's safety. It adds an excellent personal tinge to the story. There are still plenty of twists and turns and surprises. And don't let the family aspect fool you--this is a dramatic and dark tale filled with violence and suspense!

Overall, this is an excellent read.

This is the third book in the Detective Annalisa Vega series. I hope it's not the last. I've read and enjoyed all three and others by this author. I always get happy when I see a new book by Joanna Schaffhausen. She's one of my favorite authors.

This book has several murders and a man dressed as a chicken robbing people all going on. I suppose you could easily get lost while reading it but I really don't think it's hard. Annalisa is pulled off the chicken case and put on another. Her boss calls her to the scene of a man hanging from a tree with the word PIG painted on his shirt. The P is backwards. The man is a friend of Annalisa's boss from way back. He was once a cop but turned PI after leaving the force for his own reasons. Annalisa is to work this case and find out who did this. She also starts looking into three cases that the PI was working on. One being the college where her niece goes. She's being stalked and her dad wants to know who. There are several suspects in the PI's hanging and you will find out who did it. The college case is scary in many ways. Someone has abducted Annalisa's niece's best friend and roommate.

This book has a lot going on. I mean a lot. But if you can differentiate each case you won't have a problem following this story. There is also Annalisa's life with her partner Nick. They were married then divorced but are back together and doing great. I finally like Nick...

Annalisa has solved some pretty deep cases in her career. I can't say much about that or I'll be giving something away and if you haven't read the first two books you would not want me to tell. Read them. They are great. Then you'll want to read this one of course.

The story here is told in such a way that you get to know several of the characters and what they are going through. You'll remember some from the last two books. I liked the characters and the writing style very much. This author does not disappoint. It's all laid out there for you to try and figure out. I did not. I had a hunch about the PI's death and in part was right. The rest I had no clue. Well wait, I did figure out who was responsible for the missing mom. That was kind of a given to me. I loved how this one ended. Partly that is. I hope it's not the last book. I want to know more about Nick and Annalisa. Will they make it this time and what will he think of her big decision?

I throughly enjoyed reading this book. Now to wait for the next one.

Thank you #NetGalley, #JoannaSchaffhausen, #StMartinsPress/MinotaurBooks for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

Five huge stars and the highest recommendation.

Annalisa and Nick make a great detective team in Dead and Gone by Joanna Schaffhausen. This book is fast paced, intriguing, and hard to put down.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book!

I had not read other books by this author, but I am definitely hooked, thanks to this book! I was intrigued by the story and was curious about how the ending would answer all the questions posed throughout the plot. I was invested in the characters and found myself wanting to follow their progressions and development throughout the story. Great thrilling read!

I always enjoy this author’s detective series and this latest installment did not disappoint! There was a lot of development regarding Vega’s relationship with Nick and I loved the campus stalker storyline. My only complaint was there were a lot of investigations going on at once and it felt like too much sometimes. However, I’d still recommend this to fans of police procedurals. It can be read as a stand-alone, but I encourage you to read the first two books because they’re excellent!