I can not believe that this is the fifteenth book in the Lottie Parker series. What heartache that woman has been through throughout the series.

After reading a couple books by Helen Phifer I stumbles upon this author who was labeled as suggestion because I like the books by Helen and she really didn’t disappoint. I went through those books in no time and have been on the lookout for new ones ever since.

Hidden Daughters by Patricia Gibney will be released on the 25^th of June.

Lottie and Boyd are on leave to attend the wedding of Boyd’s sister Grace all the way up near Glasgow, leaving Kirby in charge of the team back in Ragmullin. Budget reports and the like don’t take to much attention because what is a Lottie Parker book without murder, right?

A woman on her morning jog spots a body in the river and calls it in; A woman in her fifties with bad blistery burns lays in the river, dead. The team start their enquiries and soon make the discovery of who the woman is, but the who, where and why are lacking.

Meanwhile in Connemara Lottie and Boyd are taking a walk and just taking in the surroundings which are astounding. The serene quiet soon becomes loud when police sirens sound in the near vicinity; Lottie going in full DI mode and wants to check it out but Boyd doesn’t want to hear it, they’re on vacation, they should just unwind.

With murders happening in Connemara Lottie just can’t take that step back and weasels her way into the investigation. Investigating either with the inspector in charge in Connemara or on her own, causing friction between her and Boyd. With a little side quest from Bryan (soon to be brother-in-law) of finding out what happened to his ex-girlfriend from his teen years who was pregnant by him. Which causes even more friction between Lottie and Grace; Grace wanting Lottie to just leave them alone and tells her to leave her home.

The murders started after a radio-maker called Imelda started asking questions about a convent called The Sisters of Forgiveness; where young girls forgotten by their parents or girls that in the eyes of their parents needed to abscond from their sins ended up there without any fault of their own. The things that happened when kids stayed there are chilling and when Imelda tried to uncover everything a certain someone decided it was time to level out the playing field so his truth would stay hidden.

Everything seems to unravel, but I have to say that the suspect I had in mind was the actual person who’d done it, so it wasn’t as mind blowing as I thought it would be. I really liked this book but I do hate that Lottie and Boyd seem to be drifting apart, since Boyd survived Cancer and has his son back in his live, he has lost all his adventure and his flirtatious self and Lottie really needs to get her priorities straight.

I’m still giving it ⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars!