A shallow grave exposes deadly secrets as bestselling author Loreth Anne White brings her thrilling series of romantic suspense to its shocking conclusion… romance struggling in the shadows of their careers. The peace doesn’t last long when human skeletal remains are found in a nearby mossy grove.
This decades-old mystery is just what Angie needs to establish her new career—even as it thrusts her and Maddocks back into the media spotlight, once again endangering their tenuous relationship.
Then, when Angie’s inquiry into the old crime intersects with a cold case from her own policing past—one that a detective on Maddocks’s new team is working—the investigation takes a startling twist. It puts more than Angie’s last shot at redemption and a future with Maddocks at risk. The mystery of the girl in the moss could kill her.
An Arthur Ellis Award Finalist for Best Crime Novel
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The Girl in The Moss starts out with a peaceful fishing trip that ends with a horrifying murder seen from the eyes of the victim.
And the action doesn’t stop there!
Angie Pallorino and her new fiancée, James Maddocks, escapes the stress of the past few months by stealing a quiet getaway on northern Vancouver Island. It blows up in their faces when human remains are found in a bed of moss deep in the rainforest.
Once more they face the onslaught of an unforgiving press. It causes Angie to lose her new P.I. job and possibly Maddocks.
When a chance to work the case comes up in the form of a retired Superior Court Judge, Angie takes it hoping to redeem her career and moreover, to prove herself worthy of Maddocks.
As a town’s secrets come to light and Angie’s life is endangered she begins to wonder if she will live long enough to uncover the truth and tell Maddocks how much she loves him.
This is a page-turning suspense I had a hard time to set down! My only regret is that the series is over. This could easily carry into future stories. I’d like to learn more about Holgerson, Maddocks and his new police program, and whether Angie ever gets her own P.I. firm.
Don’t let this series die!
I give The Girl in The Moss 5 lovely kisses
I enjoyed all three Angie Pallorino mysteries, and devoured each book greedily.
I really enjoyed all 3 of these books I really liked the characters
The Girl In The Moss is the third in the Angie Pallorino series. I read it first, as I received an ARC for review through NetGalley, and it was so good I went back and read the first two as well. Really, that should tell you everything you need to know. I genuinely can’t remember the last time I fell in love with an author’s writing so much I did that, and certainly not when I devoured a whole series in one day. This is seriously, seriously good crime fiction.
Now fired from her job, former detective Angie Pallorino is trying to get licensed as a private investigator while dealing with her unwanted celebrity as both the victim of a human trafficking crime and the cop who took down a serial killer and got fired for it. On a wilderness getaway with her lover, James Maddocks, the accidental discovery of buried human remains many years old lead to her being asked to trace the last movements of the deceased girl by a relative. Asking too many questions in a small, insular town can get a target put on your back, though, and Angie no longer has her police badge to protect her.
Loreth Anne White has a way of writing which really brings her stories to life. I could almost feel I was up there in the Canadian wilderness, feeling the chill in the air, the scent of pine needles… the unnerving sense of something watching through the trees. It was chillingly atmospheric and superbly done. Actually, I feel like this series would adapt really well for the screen, whether TV or movies, and I hope someone’s looking at doing just that because I’d really love to watch it!
Five stars for a thrilling, chilling read. Check out the whole series. You won’t regret it!
I seem to read books out of order! This is book 3 in a series and I savored it as a stand alone mystery. James Maddocks and Angie have an on going relationship that I, the reader, am just learning about. He is a cop and she use to be a cop. All I know is this couple sparks some serious heat even while dealing with a dead body on their vacation. It isn’t everybody’s idea of romance to guard a corpse!
It is extremely hot where I live and yet I felt the bone chilling cold of Canada as outsiders in a small remote area looking for clues. The biting cold, the snow, the icy roads and the claustrophobic areas of trees to hide behind are all present.
The girl found dead from years ago brings back horrific memories for everyone that knew her as Jasmine. Jasmine liked secrets, hers and other peoples and paid for it with her life. A seductive woman, Jasmine was being filmed with other women for a movie about fly fishing. Other women in the film represented different ages and life choices.
You have a large cast of characters that are from the town she died near plus the women she alienated on the fishing trip and her past.
The past and secrets are presented throughout the book with the question, do secrets keep you safe, do they hurt you, or can you let secrets out and become free?
Angie wants to be a private detective, James wants her as his wife, and both seem to be drifting apart while solving the crime.
I enjoyed the grandmother Jilly, Claire, Kjel, a detective and many more. I loved the ending and the fact you were not left stranded till a book four for information. Wanted a bit more of Angie and James together but that made me read faster to see what they’d do.
I have just started book one of the series to learn abit more about the couple and the crimes they solve. The theme of truth not secrets runs throught this book but what this book really is about is love. Start this book warned you better have some crackers and a drink nearby as you won’t be moving anytime soon! Superior plotting, in depth characters, small town feel, and also the fears of being an outsider ……terrific, tense, atmospheric and satisfying.
The Girl in the Moss (Angie Pallorino #3) by author Loreth Anne White is another wonderful mystery thriller. I really like the progress Angie Pallorino is making in her career and life. This book can be read as a stand-alone book if you have not read the other books in this series. Angie is having a hard time in her pursuit of the PI license due to her face and name being so well known due to her past. After being fired from two jobs, Angie is desperate to redeem herself and takes on a private PI job on the cold case of missing socialite Jasmine Gulati at the request of Jasmine’s grandmother. The 24-year-old remains of Jasmine Gulati are discovered in an old shallow grave along the Nahamish River while Angie and Maddocks are on a river fishing trip. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot revolving around the women’s fly fishing documentary!
I don’t want to post spoilers, but this book had my full attention from beginning until the end. As the reader is thinking about how the ending is surely apparent, BAMM! we have another short mystery to solve!
The author gives us a wonderfully brilliant ending!
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.
Beautifully descriptive, this book will take you on a journey like no other. I dod not see the end of this coming and would happily read another by this author.
I was lucky enough to get to read this book before it hits shelves in June. Loreth Anne White did not disappoint in the third installment of Angie Pallorino. She captured mystery, suspense, and female empowerment all in one scoop. There were quite a few memorable quotes that will be sticking in my brain for a while. I’m so sad that this story is over. I have grown quite attached to these characters.
And may I say, James Maddocks is one of my new book boyfriends. *heart flutters* My heart sails when I read his name 🙂
I highly recommend this series and anything Loreth Anne White writes!
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Veronica –
Angie and Maddocks’ relationship is very much on the rocks. Maddocks want to take it to the next level but with her career in tatters, Angie is hesitant to commit because she doesn’t feel she has anything to offer. While Angie and Maddocks are on a guided fishing holiday, a skeleton is discovered on the banks of the river. The death is ruled an accident but the only living relative of the deceased hires Angie to investigate the deceased last days.
Angie’s investigation had me on the edge of my seat. As she moved from one witness to the next, I started to put the pieces together and for once I actually figured out who did it well before it was revealed. Of course, I wasn’t sure I was right until the end. It didn’t matter that I’d figured it out because watching Angie uncover the mystery was compelling reading. This is on the edge of your seat stuff and at times, it was downright scary. And I loved every nail biting minute.
The Girl in the Moss is the final instalment in the Angie Pallorino series and Loreth Anne White saved the best for last. I’m sad to see this excellent series end and I hope there will be a spin off in our future.
Sarah –
4.5 stars
This was an unexpected pleasure. My reaction to the last book in this series was pretty tepid so I really didn’t expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. In this third book, Angie has worked through some of her personal baggage and is attempting to start a new career as a private investigator. Her first proper case is a thirty-year-old unexplained death. What starts as information gathering soon spirals into a complicated and terrifying investigation.
Angie Pallorino will always be an awkward, complicated character but I found myself actually liking her for most of this story. She’s still not great with authority and her relationship with Maddocks is much messier than it needs to be – but she is both competent and relatable here.
The complicated plot of this story is also cleverly crafted. The investigation involves two distinct groups of characters – liberal filmmakers associated with an urban university and the closely knit residents of an isolated small town. I loved the clash of cultures and the way the complicated threads of the investigation are slowly pulled apart. The pacing is brilliant, and I loved the suspense here.
On a more personal level, I loved the Vancouver Island settings. The author captures both the urban and rural environments beautifully and it made my expat heart incredibly homesick. I’ve wanted to love this series from the start and this is the book that made my patience worthwhile. I’m excited for the next story.
Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Girl in the Moss (Angie Pallorino #3) by Loreth Anne White to read and review.
Excellent ending to a great 3 book series
THE GIRL IN THE MOSS is the third instalment in Loreth Anne White’s contemporary, adult ANGIE PALLORINO murder/mystery/suspense series focusing on former Vancouver Police Department sex crimes Detective Angie Pallorino, and her partner/lover Detective Sergeant James Maddocks. THE GIRL IN THE MOSS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary but I recommend reading the series in order for cohesion especially as it pertains to our heroine’s back story.
Told from several third person perspectives including Angie Pallorino THE GIRL IN THE MOSS picks up several months after THE LULLABY GIRL (#2) and finds our heroine without purpose. Fired for going rogue as a detective with the Vancouver Police Department sex crimes unit, Angie Pallorino is working towards her PI certificate but the fame of notoriety is wreaking havoc with her current job. While on vacation, Angie and her lover Detective Sergeant James Maddocks will stumble upon a shallow grave believed to be the burial place of a young woman thought missing and drowned twenty-four years earlier. A phone call from the deceased woman’s family finds our heroine back on the hunt for answers, a hunt that leads Angie to a small town of hunters, lies, and closed door secrets. What ensues is a complex investigation and the detective work of one woman, as she battles her own personal demons, and the town residents who are desperate to keep buried sins of the past.
Meanwhile, Detective Sergeant James Maddocks offers up an ultimatum to the woman he loves. Unable to let go of the past, Angie struggles with the possibility of rejection including by the man that calls to her heart. James and his fellow detectives begin analysing a series of cold case files, files that will lead back to Angie’s current murder investigation.
THE GIRL IN THE MOSS is a mosaic of details and revelations from potential killers, to puzzling clues, clandestine lovers and secret lives. Old wounds will be opened, and families will be destroyed as one woman must come to terms with the necessity and determination to bring justice for a woman long thought buried and gone.
Loreth Anne White writes with purpose; an architect of amazing talent as her story line slowly gathers the momentum towards the final reveal. THE GIRL IN THE MOSS is a story of suspense and mystery; secrets and lies; violence and murder but ultimately a story of family and loss.
There is peace to be had. Girl in The Moss captivated me from the beginning. Each book Angie grows and softens. Each book is a stand a lone but is appreciated so much more if you read them in order.
Twist, turns, intrigue. My stomach was in knots as Angie (not Angela 🙂 ) investigated the last days of Jasmine. The plot was intricate with its own subplots and offshoots. I cannot do this book the justice it deserves with my review. Just know you want on this train, you want to ride it to the end. Enjoy each curve, tunnel and the peace to be had. The truth comes out and Angie softens and lets love start being a reality, not a dream. I am so pleased with the way this series wrapped up. I am guessing it wrapped up, but hey we still need to know whats going on with Holgerson don’t we? Pls do another one, you know there has to be adjustments and changes in Angies’ life, throw us another mystery, and how Angie deals with her new life, Please, pretty please. Thank you Net Galley, Montlake and thank you Loreth Anne White for an incredible ride, I don’t want to get off. I voluntarily leave my review in hopes others will want to share in the ride.
The Girl in the Moss is the perfect end to the Angie Pallorino trilogy. While there are still characters I’d like to see more of (I’m looking at you Kjel), Angie’s story comes to its logical conclusion. The twists and turns are classic White and while there are good hints, I really didn’t see the end coming. I was glad I had uninterrupted time to read because once I started I wanted to keep going to the end.
I voluntarily reviewed and ARC of this novel.
This third book from the Angie Pallorino series is my favorite. This book kept me guessing thinking I had everything figured out only for there to be another unexpected twist. The 24 year old cold case that Angie is hired to investigate unearthed more than the body in the moss.
I picked this up on sale not realizing it was the third in a series. I enjoyed it so much that I’m going to have to go back and read the first two.
This third book of the series is an action-packed thrill ride when Angie is hired to investigate the death of a young girl that supposedly drowned twenty-fours years ago. What she finds is a tangled web of lies that cover up kidnapping, rape, and murder. Even though Angie is met with hostility at every turn, she pursues the truth with a dogged determination—for which Angie’s well known—and puts her life on the line to get closure for her client, all the while considering a porposal of marriage from her boyfriend, James Maddocks. I was happy that things end well for Angie as she realizes what is really important in life and trades her fear of abandonment for a shot at happiness.
Waaahhh!!! I can’t believe it’s over! I don’t want it to be over! Nooo!!! I loved this book it was definitely the best of the series and I guess if it’s going to be over this was a magnificent way to end it. I laughed, I cried and I loved the ending. I wish there could be more and if the White ever decides there is more to Angie’s story, I will definitely be there. Going to also check out White’s other work. I really enjoy the way she writes. She’s a great storyteller.
4 1/2 This is book 3 in a trilogy and I loved every one in the series