4.5 stars.

Deputy Ben Packard was a boy when his older brother disappeared. He had watched him walk out the back door of their grandparents’ house and never saw him again. Decades have passed and Deputy Packard finds himself on leave and under investigation after a work-related shooting, leaving him with lots of empty time on his hands. He decides to dig deeper into what really happened to his older brother, Nick, and ends up stumbling across a separate, suspicious death. As Packard digs further into both cases, he is met with fierce resistance, leading him to risk everything to uncover the truth.

A LONG TIME GONE marks the third book in the Ben Packard series. While I think they can be read as standalones, I’d recommend reading them in order to better grasp the intricacies of the characters and the politics of small-town Sandy Lake. I was beyond excited to be approved for a digital ARC of this book, eager to get back to Sandy Lake and see what’s next for Deputy Packard.

That said, I think that A LONG TIME GONE may be my favorite of this series to date. It contains two cases: the first, a cold case dating back many years and the second, a more recent and suspicious death. The novel starts off slow, building up the scene and giving context to the characters, the office politics, and the cases; but as new leads start to come in and possible connections crop up, the pacing begins to pick up. One case is much more complex than the other, but each are interesting, gripping, and well-paced. They each had me guessing as twists and turns led me down different paths, always staying a step ahead, leaving me nowhere near the correct reveals.

Deputy Packard is a great character and an excellent protagonist. He’s tenacious, brave, and always eager to get to the bottom of any story, no matter how simple or complex it may look at first glance. His character gains depth here and I love seeing his growth. I loved catching up with the other relevant characters in the Sheriff’s office, like Theilen. It was also interesting to meet Packard’s mom, who is a true hoot with interesting advice.

Can’t wait to see what will come next for Packard in future books!

<i>I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, of this advanced digital copy for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review! All opinions expressed are my own.</i>

The third installment of the Ben Packard series starts off revisiting the disappearance of Ben’s brother, Nick. Nick disappeared from the family’s lakeside home when Ben was a kid and his body was never recovered. The lack of knowing has always haunted Ben and now it appears some of the leads could be promising on figuring out what happened. While hunting down one of these leads, Ben stumbles upon another murder in the same house.

The author did an amazing job of fluidly combining two separate storylines. At the beginning, I was following the investigation regarding Nick only then for it to seamlessly transfer direction to that of the new murders. I only realized, roughly 3/4 of the way through the book that this flip had happened. Another thing that I love about the author is that the characters, especially Ben, are always very well developed. As an aside, we got to meet Ben‘s mom Pam, who made me chuckle.

This book works great as a standalone, but also gives a big payout, albeit heartbreaking, to those of us who have been following Ben through the series. I typically do not like books that are in a series just due to the repetitive nature of them, but this one is not repetitive in the least. Would highly recommend this one, especially if you like murder mysteries without getting into the nitty-gritty of the details.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Long Time Gone by Joshua Moehling
Ben Packard #3

~ Excellent addition to the series ~ Couldn’t put it down ~ Great addition to the series ~

What I liked:
* Ben Packard: leader, team player, wise, seasoned detective, has suffered loss, loving son and brother, good friend, strategic thinker, puzzle solver, dedicated, persistent, doesn’t hold a grudge, empathetic, finally gets closure on Nick’s cold case, intriguing, open minded, would love to see him again
* The small-town vibe that is not always positive but is always real
* The way Ben handles himself I a variety of situations
* Pamela Packard: Ben’s mother, loving, kind, supportive, into a variety of new-age-spiritual ideas, there for her children, made me smile and chuckle as she pushed Ben to be more social
* Frank: Ben’s three-legged rescue corgi and perhaps his support canine
* Detective Jill Thielen: mature, bright, triathlete, happily married, excellent at her job, there for her team, has a big surprise before the end of the story
* Reynolds: detective I training, married, father, has a sense of humor, dedicated, prefers patrol
* The plot, pacing, setting and writing
* That I was invested in the story and wanted to find out what happened
* The way the various threads of murder, crime, and the cold case were pursued, where they led, and how all were resolved
* That even though I read ahead…I was still surprised more than once by a twist or turn
* All of it really except…


What I didn’t like:
* Who and what I was meant not to like
* Thinking about how corrupt and evil some people are and what they are willing to do to advance themselves without any care for those they harm in the process

Did I like this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? Yes…hope there will be more books about Ben

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks-Poisoned Pen for the ARC – this is my honest review.

5 Stars

3.75 stars for me

I enjoyed the book i did feel like i was missing something having not read the other 2 in the series.
You can tell its part is a series and you needed to read them in order to fully understand the characters. I will be reading the other 2 so im glad i got to sample this one.

This is the third book in the Ben Packard series but can be read as a standalone as I have not read the first two and enjoyed this story immensely. I’m looking forward to reading the previous books and any subsequent ones.
Thank you to the author/publisher for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was my first dive into the world of Ben Packard, but I didn't have trouble following the storyline at all. I would like to read the first two books after enjoying this one so much. Ben is a great main character with a complex backstory coming into play with the disappearance of his brother, and a newer case being the focus. I was thoroughly entertained as would fans of crime thrillers or police procedurals.

Bare bones: We are reunited with Ben Packard who is catching consequences of lost election. He's demoted from Investigation to court security duty and the new sheriff is as incompetent and lazy as he was when he worked under Packard. After the unfortunate event, Ben is on an administrative leave which gives him a lot of free time to look into his brother's disappearance. And there is something suspicious about the lethal accident of an old woman who was living in once Packard's family home full of memories of his brother and summers they used to spend in Sandy Lake.


This was such a well-crafted procedural. Moehling's attention to details is noted and appreciated by this reader, especially when it comes to timelines and loose ends. The mystery is twofold: there is a complicated investigation of a local crime that grows into big, complicated case of corruption involving a lot of figures who committed several crimes. And then there is the overreaching mystery of what happened to Nick, Ben's brother who disappeared years ago, never to be found.
The biggest take I had from this novel is that perhaps crime rarely happens in isolation. There is a lot of different factors to contribute to it and as Ben was gathering pieces of what happened to elderly woman, there is a mention of events that are a part of zeitgeist, totally something you can pull from newspapers. Yes, it's people breaking the law, but it's also not a very well written law full of loopholes and system is not working that well and it's happening at a particularly sensitive time and so on. Over the top by the end, but I enjoyed it.
By this novel, we already know that Ben is dealing with trauma by stuffing it into a box and getting away from it, throwing himself into work. We get some of much needed self-reflection from him which was a nice development because I don't think that every detective in mystery series has to be as bad in figuring their life as they are good at figuring others. He has a loving family, mom that embarrasses him on daily basis and friends who care for him, some new and some old. Ben is most interesting when he bounces his ideas of his colleagues so I am glad he is not isolating as much because dialogue was snappy and fun to read. Reynolds is becoming a favorite and I hope we will get to see more of him. There is also some awkward flirting, but tragically, there is not enough Garry.
Ben is finally getting answers about his brother and this was the weakest part of the story for me. It read to me like Moehling wanted to wrap this up, especially after that shot from book #2. On one hand, it's good this is not dragged, but on the other I feel like the buildup led up to an answer that was a bit heavy-handed in certain ways and convenient for some of the people involved. It was a bit rushed and processed in a span of a single chapter and I hope it will result in better character development in future stories.
All in all, this is another winner for Moehling. It was so easy to slide right back into Sandy Lake again because these charters stay in your mind and that's the greatest strength of his writing, I think.
Recommended.

Although I did not read the prior books in this series I had no problem to understand A Long Time Gone. Ben lost the election for the Sheriff position and is now relegated to duty at the courthouse and it's where there'll be a shoot out and he'll kill a man. He is relieved from duty for 60 days whilst a review of his procedures is undertaken, with too much free time in his hands he goes back to investigating his brother's disappearance and will learn about the death of the woman who bought his grandfather's house (where his brother is last seen). From then on he pursues a lot of leads and learns that there's much more going on in the small Minnesotan town. He'll also learn that he'll have to work with issues from his past to be able to fully live. Well-written, engaging, I'll read the other books in the series. Recommended!
I thank the author, his publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC.

LONG TIME GONE by JOSHUA MOEHLING - This was actually the third of a series of three but it doesn’t matter. Ben Packard returns home after being gone a long time to become Sheriff and because of a lost election becomes a worker at the Courthouse. Ben’s brother left home one night when Ben was a young boy and disappeared. Being he is idle right now after the shooting at the Courthouse that has him on leave, He decides to dig into his brother’s disappearance again and tries to find out the essentials of the shooting at the Courthouse of which he was responsible. This was a very good story – it certainly will keep you reading well into the night. There seems to be something going on throughout. I highly recommend this book. I also intend to read the other two books @ Joshua Moehling wrote as well. I want to thank @Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this.

This is the third book in the Ben Packard mysteries. This series follows former Twin Cities police officer, Ben Packard as he navigates small town politics and investigates prior family secrets and the disappearance of his older brother when he was a child. You don’t have to read the previous novels, but I recommend that you do. There is a self-contained mystery in each one as well as developments regarding his brother’s cold case as an overall story arc across the series. Plus this is my favorite mystery series of recent years.

This installment finds Ben demoted to court security after the events of the previous book. Things quickly take a turn for the worse when circumstances leading to an officer involved shooting leave Ben temporarily off duty with time on his hands. Ben decides to use this time to delve deeper into his brother’s cold case, and insinuate himself into a suspicious death that was earlier dismissed as an accident that occurred in his childhood home.

I started off feeling so sorry for poor Ben who is clearly miserable in his new court security position or “checking ladies’ purses” as several others called it, not to mention the misery of the rest of the department trying to keep up with their duties without his extra hands. His mother comes for a visit and gives him an assist both on the case and personally. She was a hoot. I loved her and how she read him like a book, especially regarding Kyle or rather “tall, dark and handsome.”

I really enjoyed the mystery in this one and the resolution of the story behind the disappearance of his brother went into a totally different direction than I expected, which I found surprising in a good way. I love it when that happens. Can’t recommend this series enough to mystery readers.

Thank you to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a copy provided for an honest review.

Wow, the Ben Packard story just keeps getting better and better! A Long Time Gone is the 3rd installment of this wonderful series featuring Ben Packard, a rural Minnesota sheriff's deputy, and his mission to be a good lawman, maintain his sense of self, and discover what really happened to his older brother who disappeared just as Ben was entering adolescence. While you would "have" to read the previous two books to enjoy this one (there is a crime that is uncovered and solved start to finish), reading the previous installments will help you to understand who Ben is as a person and his story within his community better.

As a detective, Ben is both sharp and introspective. Joshua Moehling is brilliant in capturing the shades of gray they lie between and within right and wrong. The book contains a lot of social and political commentary through how the characters internally reflect, speak, and interact with each other. But it is not preachy commentary, just thoughts and reflections that we as everyday Americans have ourselves. Just an overall wonderful book where the characters feel like friends and family. We meet Ben's mom for the first time in person, and she is an absolute hoot. Love, love, love this series!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Having lost the election for Sheriff, Deputy Ben Packard is stuck on courthouse security. Boring until it isn't, Ben finds himself on administrative leave near the start of the story, and with time on his hands, he starts to look more closely into the decades-old disappearance of his older brother. When that investigation hits a wall, he finds himself at loose ends without work to distract him. Enter Ben's mother, who comes for visit, and meeting her was one of the many highlights of this book because she is quite a character and had me laughing more than once. Peripherally related to his mother's visit, Ben stumbles across a suspicious death with a tenuous connection to his family and convinces the Sheriff to let him look into it even though he is still on leave. Saying more might give too much away, so suffice it to say that Packard's intellect and courage will both be needed to get to the bottom of this complex case. Ben is a richly drawn character, noble but not perfect. This is definitely a favorite series; Moehling does an excellent job of building tension and suspense, interspersed with humor. The pacing is spot on, and the plot alternates between Ben's two investigations with ease. Although I've read the earlier books in the series and recommend doing so before starting this one, it is because they are all great books, not because I don't think this one works as a standalone!

Thanks to NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press for the chance to read this book.

Everything about this book was great, it captured my attention from the beginning and had it the whole time, finished in one sitting and it was a pretty fast paced read, a lot of things going on to keep you entertained. I'll have to go back and read the whole series now, so I can be all up to date when the next one comes out.

You are immersed In Ben Packard's life as he struggles to always do right in his life. Ben lost his older brother when he was a young child. He was always searching for answers. In A Long Time Gone, he gets those answers. We also see his mom and her interaction in his life. Never count out older people! The ups and downs in Bens life, romantically, work related and family makes this another fantastic read. Thank you for the advanced copy. I freely share my honest thoughts and opinions. #ALongTImeGone #BenPackard #JoshuaMoehling #PoisendPenPress #NetGalley

Book three continues where book two left off, and it carries the ongoing plotlines nicely. You get a bit of a refresher regarding the events of the first two books, woven into the narrative of this one in a way that makes perfect sense without it coming across like a "previously on" recap. On top of the main case featured in this book, Packard is finally able to investigate what happened to his brother Nick thirty years ago, and boy, have I been waiting for that plotline! Everything is written so well, and it's all there for you to make the case right alongside him. There's a great balance of action and investigative police work, and I can't wait to see what the author comes up with next.

4.5 stars

**I received an ARC copy from Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All thoughts and comments contained within are my own.**

#alongtimegone by @jmoehling is the third installment of the Ben Packard series and it is SOOOOO good. I enjoyed it more than "And There He Kept Her" (haven't read #2 yet). I love these characters - Ben is terrific. It's an excellent police procedural as well, with many plot twists. The writing is good, well-plotted and lots of commentary about life, and people. Keep 'em coming!

"There were rumors about them in some quarters, but people who gossip aren't the ones who show up when needed."

P. S. Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC.

Ben Packard is back with all the small-town mystery we've come to know him for, and some roiling family secrets to boot. Our favourite deputy finds himself with a lot of time on his hands and a lot of swirling, good-for-nothing thoughts to distract himself from, and it leads him down professional and personal paths with twists he (and I, as the reader), didn't see coming. Packard, as always, goes in swinging and takes us with him as he searches for the answers to questions that have remained buried for too long.

This is another wonderful instalment in the Ben Packard series by Moehling. Coming back to these characters we know and love (Thielen is, as always, a joy) and meeting new ones (keep an eye out for Ben's mother in particular) feels like coming home. We get some resolutions in this book to questions that have been bubbling away for the whole series, which feel satisfying yet still gripping as they unfold before our eyes.

I really really like Ben Packard! This series is fresh, and the characters are nuanced. I listen to the first 2 and read this one on kindle. I have to say that the audio versions are really worth it if you can get your hands (or ears) on it.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 (rounding up)

• suspenseful police procedural
• captivating story
• intense conclusion

I just love Packard. He is such an easy-to-root-for protagonist. He's gentle yet badass. This is a whodunnit, but I also loved how we got to see his personal life as well. The new characters are so interesting! This is the third book in the series, and I recommend reading them in order. I'm so excited for more Packard in the future!

🗣 Thank you to netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC! All opinions are honest and my own.

A Long Time Gone by Joshua Moehling is a gripping, atmospheric mystery that explores the dark shadows of the past. Deputy Ben Packard, haunted by his brother’s mysterious disappearance decades earlier, is forced to confront long-buried secrets when new leads surface. As he investigates a suspicious death that may be connected to his brother’s case, Packard faces resistance from those who want him to stop digging. With a tense, wintery setting and a complex protagonist, Moehling crafts a suspenseful tale about family, loss, and the dangerous pursuit of truth. Fans of slow-burn mysteries will find this a compelling and rewarding read.