Definitely a 5 star read! Everything about this book is exactly what I look for in a good thriller: suspense, unpredictable twists, mental stimulation, emotional engagement, tension build. This book had it all. I wasn’t necessarily “hooked” from the jump, but as the story went on I found myself not wanting to put it down. The mystery behind everything was really well thought out and I liked that I had no unanswered questions at the end.

Thank you NetGalley!

This book actually deserves ZERO stars, but NetGalley doesn't have that option.

Long story short, Hazel is a 30-year-old PI down on her luck and months away from her business folding. Then one day filthy rich Madeline Hemsley breezes into Hazel's office and wants her to find a missing teen who disappeared from a local orphanage. Chaos ensues in the form of terrible writing, I was correct about the villains, there are obscene amounts of references to sexual violence at the end when all is 'revealed'. and basically I want to vomit.

Hazel was written so poorly and made to be SO insufferable - and top of THAT we get this thinly-veiled gross Asian-fetish-extremely-offensive representation bullshit happening. It's no wonder that her business is failing - she's a mess, is repeatedly unprofessional, complains about having no money and little income but is always late to meet with Madeline, and seems to lack any kind of expertise in her chosen field. She makes stupid mistakes, acts impulsively, and is irresponsible. Madeline gives her a week to solve the case with the promise of a huge payday if she does so, yet Hzael takes time out of her "busy" sleuthing schedule for dates with a dude she just met and she does not at all question how he just happened to pop up in her life when he did.

On top of all of that, she does literally nothing to protect herself while she is investigating, and is saved at the end only because her male roommate really did call the police when he didn't hear from her, something she told him to do kind of as a joke as she was leaving.

Seriously, when we first meet Hazel, she has an angry client who refuses to believe the evidence that his wife is cheating, and threatens Hazel over it. Then as she investigates the disappearance for Madeline, she is followed and accosted by two men with a knife, and she still just wanders around outside like a weirdo. No mace, no knife of her own, no gun, no apparent training of any kind to protect herself.

My biggest issue, however, is a man writing from the point of view of a woman, relaying HER experience being sexually assaulted.

ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT.

EVER.

Not only has Hazel experienced this trauma in her past, she shares it with with her new man, the one who she just happened to meet while she was poorly trying to sleuth at a fancy rich-people event. If your alarm bells are not yet ringing, you might be braindead.

BECAUSE, it turns out, he is (one of) THE BAD GUY(s) and is fully ready to assault her at the end when she has walked right into the lion's den and had no idea that's what she was really doing. It was one of the worst things I have ever read in my life and all the violence on top of the completely juvenile writing just made it The. Worst.

I can not understand how this book is rated so highly. I will never read another book by this man and I highly recommend you do not, either.

Hazel is a private investigator hired to find Mia, a missing girl from a local orphanage. As Hazel begins to investigate, she realizes this case is much more complicated than she anticipated. She is also given a strict deadline by her client, so she doesn’t have time on her side. As she gets to know the people involved with the orphanage she gets the feeling that no one can be trusted, but she is determined to figure out what happened to Mia and how many other secrets are being kept.

This book was engaging and kept me guessing who was responsible and if Hazel would meet her deadline or not. I wouldn’t say I was shocked by any of the twists and turns, but that’s fine with me. I enjoyed getting to know Hazel’s character and I’m looking forward to more!

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an eARC copy in exchange for my honest review!

Hazel Cho is a down on her luck private investigator whose business is about to fold when Madeline Hemsley enters her life with a unique proposition. Help her find a missing girl from 'The Orphanage by the Lake'. What should be a straightforward case turns into a long drawn out mystery as more and more of the employees seem to have secrets to hide. For the past 25 years girls have slowly been disappearing from the school and no one seems to notice. The author does a great job of describing the eire setting and the suspense builds throughout the book.

There's great character development here, and you're rooting for Hazel to succeed as she has 10 days to receive her payment from Madeline. As she races against the clock, trying to figure out who is telling the truth and who is not. The style of writing grabs you right away and I'm looking forward to reading more about Hazel's future exploits if a series is written.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc. This follows Hazel who is presented with the missing of a girl who was an orphan in a children's home. Hazel is a private investigator who is asked to find this girl.

I received an early copy of this text from Net Galley for review.

Hazel Cho is is Private Detective with not a lot of clients. The clients she does have, are well... on the shady side and she is not rolling in the income.

Then, out of nowhere Madeline Hemsley enters into her life with a case that has the potential to change her life financially and personally. This case centers around finding a young girl who has gone missing from an orphanage.

The more Hazel digs into the case, the more she discovers that this is not just A MISSING GIRL who is missing. It is much more than she has bargained for. Oh and she also has a deadline, a certain number of days by which she must solve the case.

✨Review✨

The Orphanage by the Lake by Daniel G Miller

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️

I was hooked in with Orphanage and by the Lake- two keys and I was SOLD.
This book was unputdownable!! I was absolutely consumed by this story of the missing girl named Mia and the private detective Hazel, hired to find her.

Hazel and I were a team trying to put all the pieces together to find Mia. If Mia questioned this person was a suspect- so did I. I got your back girl, but were blind sided more than once. The plot twists kept coming and the people we thought we could trust we couldn’t, and the people we thought you couldn’t trust turn out to be the greatest assets.

Highly recommend this for anyone looking for a good mystery, with a strong female lead!!


📆Release date: Available now

✨Read this if you like✨
🥀 Mystery
🥀 Thriller
🥀 Suspense
🥀 Money
🥀 Powerful strong FMC
🥀 Detectives
🥀 Police
🥀 Missing girls

The Orphanage by the Lake
by Daniel G. Miller
Pub Date: Mar 18 2025
Hazel Cho is a PI who has been hired to investigate the disappearance of a young girl from an orphanage who seems to be just another runaway. The more she searches, the more she realizes this wasn't the first runaway to disappear. Can she connect the dots and figure out where these girls are going before it's too late?
On the surface, this seemed like another serial murderer on the loose targeting young girls, but it went much deeper than that. What Hazel uncovers is much more sinister and she might be the next one to disappear.
#netgalley
#TheOrphanagebytheLake
#DanielGMiller

Daniel Miller did an excellent job with The Orphanage by the Lake. Hazel, a PI, is hired by Madeline to find her goddaughter, Mia. Mia has gone missing from Saint Agnes, a school for girls who are orphaned.

Nothing is as it seems. Madeline is hiding things. The headmaster, Thomas Mackenzie, is hiding things. This is a rollercoaster of who can you trust.

When nothing is as it seems will Hazel be able to find Mia in time?

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced digital copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

In the book The Orphanage by the Lake, author Daniel G. Miller begins a new series featuring PI Hazel Cho. Hazel is ready for a fresh start but becoming a private investigator is not turning out like she dreamed. But then a mysterious socialite named Madeline Hemsley walks into her office to hire her to find a missing girl from what the locals call the Orphanage by the Lake. It seems like a straightforward case until Hazel begins to dig. And as she digs the mystery gets deeper and more tangled. This is a good story and I look forward to the second book. I would recommend this book. I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a lighter, enjoyable and quick read! Coming off of several pretty dark thrillers, this was much needed. I loved Hazel so much! Hazel is a Manhattan-based Korean American private eye hired by a wealthy socialite to find her missing goddaughter. Oh, and she has 10 days to find her or no money. The girl has supposedly disappeared from a mysterious children's home by the lake. Hence the title. Nothing creepy so far, right? There are a lot of strange goings-on at this place and plenty of suspects, but also plenty of clues to follow. Learning about Asian-American culture is just a bonus! I understand this will be a series and I look forward to more from Hazel.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Daniel G. Miller and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Instagram and other retail and social media sites upon publication day of March 18, 2025.

The Orphanage By The Lake offers a mix of mystery and suspense. The story centers around Hazel, a private investigator who's hired to find a missing orphan girl. What starts as a straightforward case turns into a journey filled with secrets.

The plot was engaging enough to keep me going, but I will admit it was a bit of a drag for me after the first few chapters. The orphanage setting added a certain atmosphere to the story, though it felt a bit clichéd at times. Some of the twists were somewhat predictable, especially if you're familiar with the thriller genre. There were moments where the pacing slowed down, which affected the overall flow of the story.

Reading The Orphanage By The Lake was a mixed experience. While there were moments of suspense, the emotional impact was barely existent. Hazel's personal struggles added some depth, but they did not engage me that much. Overall, The Orphanage By The Lake is an okay read with a fair balance of mystery. It's a book that might keep you guessing, but it did not leave a lasting impression on me.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy! This book is an excellent demonstration of how setting, place, and environment can really set a scene that is at once foreboding and enticing. There really are fewer topics and wheelhouses that I love more than spooky orphanages and maybe haunted lakes, so this double decker whammy kept me up all night to finish the story!

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for the arc of this book!

I wanted to like this because I love a good, twisty thriller. This had potential. The writing was pretty simplistic, along with the characters. Everything was so condensed and happened so fast, to the point where sometimes it just didn't make sense. Like everything with Andrew - the FMC knew this guy for like 2 seconds and she's already sleeping over? It was weird for me. There was so much missed potential with Sonia, too. She kind of fell off the face of the earth and ended up being crucial to the investigation.

Overall, this had the entertainment factor. It was formulaic, but a quick and easy read. Just fine.

I loved this story and right up to the end I was on the edge of my seat! This was my kind of book with characters that you love to hate and nonstop action. Hazel is looking for a change. She agrees to go upstate to search for a missing girl and gets thrown into a whirlwind investigation There was so much going on and I loved every second of it. If you like a twisty thriller, this one is for you.
Many thanks to the author, Poisoned PenPress and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Decent thriller plot and pacing. I didn’t love how the main character was written sometimes. She was very tenacious and her banter with her roommate was light and refreshing. The unfolding of the mystery was well plotted, and it went somewhere I was not expecting at all. I do think it wrapped up really quickly compared to the rest of the story. Overall it was very enjoyable.

First of all, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for approving my request to read and review! Now let’s get to it!
It was the eerie book cover and the title that grabbed my attention at first, we shouldn’t judge books by covers but this one I couldn’t help myself, it just screamed out this would be my type of read.
When I looked into this book, I could see there were some very mixed bags of reviews, so I was intrigued to find out for myself and I feel my opinions on the book may be a little controversial, but I really, really enjoyed it.
The brooding atmosphere made me feel quite tense and on edge, and I was itching to get to the end just to see how everything would come together. I will admit, the character’s aren’t the most likeable, I didn’t get attached to any, but this didn’t spoil the read for me at all, the story made up for it.
I liked the twists and turns, they were a little predictable, but in all fairness, I’ve read a lot of thrillers! I enjoyed the eerie feel throughout; the book held my attention and I did look forward to picking it back up once I had set it down. This was an enjoyable thriller, as long as you didn’t look too much into it.

I really enjoyed this book! I was hooked from the very beginning. Hazel Cho is a private investigator who has a solo firm. She hasn't had very many cases and she is really really trying to make ends meet. I love Hazel! She is hilarious and very sarcastic--so funny! One day, Madeline walks into her office and aske Hazel to find her goddaughter who disappeared 6 months earlier from an children's school in upper New York called The Orphanage by the Lake. In one week. Madeline gives her money and a car with which to get started. Initially it appears as though Mia has just run away as all clues point in that direction. However, the more Hazel investigates, the more mysteries about the orphanage and Mia are uncovered. I could kind of see where the plot was heading but I enjoyed reading because Hazel and her roommate Kenny are very entertaining. Thanks to Net Galley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC!! Definitely looking forward to the next installment.

Thank you, Poisoned Pen Press for this advanced reader copy!

This was a very intriguing mystery novel that I enjoyed following. The writing was very well done where I felt like I could see the red threads on the board, slowly piecing everything together. I loved reading about the behind-the-scenes action that Hazel went through and how dedicated she was.

Overall this was a solid mystery with a dark twist.

Thank you to NetGalley, Daniel G. Miller, and Poisoned Pen Press for the eBook! I love a good private investigator mystery, and this one delivered. With all the best elements of a gripping missing person case, the twists and turns kept me on edge and left me reeling. A fantastic read!