Frankie Elkin Books In Order

Publication Order of Frankie Elkin Books

Frankie Elkin is the heroine of a series of mystery/thriller books by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner. She is your ordinary middle-aged woman, recovering alcoholic who will stop at nothing to solve the cases of missing persons that the media and the public have forgotten.

Before She Disappeared

Before She Disappeared is the first book in the Frankie Elkin series by Lisa Gardner. At the novel’s end, there’s an author’s note where Lisa Gardener claims she was inspired to write Frankie Elkin’s character after discovering an informal online network of newbie detectives who investigate missing persons and other unsolved cases. These amateur detectives have more success than professionals, given that professional detectives often pursue cases for months or a few years before they go cold. And through this discovery, Gardener was able to come up with the character of Frankie Elkin.

In this book, we are introduced to Frankie Elkin, a loner, recovering alcoholic, and survivor with no friends or family and without a proper place to call home. She only carries a few belongings, including a mobile phone, a whistle and a few clothes in the backpack. She only has one mission- to find missing persons whose cases have gone cold and are no longer remembered by the media or the public.

She does this job to redeem herself from a tragic event that happened in her past ten years ago. She keeps searching for these missing persons to keep her sanity and control her urge to drink. She is determined to save lives because of the guilty conscience that has been eating her alive and killing her inside for over a decade. But when night comes, and she finds herself all alone, endless nightmares haunt her for what feels like an eternity. In her darker moments, she calls out for her survivor self which saves her from the tragic event years ago. That’s how Frankie Elkin spends her days and nights, saving lives and running away from her demons.

She was able to find all the fourteen missing people she was investigating, but unfortunately, none of them was found alive. She never carries a smartphone, which is expected from her, given the abovementioned traits. She is old school and navigates her way through the city’s intricate transportation system by simply using paper maps. Besides this, Frankie is a good listener and knows how to ask questions well. She also possesses a secret weapon that makes her stand out. She can make people talk, giving her a chance to get the right clues out of them to be on the right track.

Now, her latest case has brought her to Mattapan, Boston, a notoriously hostile and dangerous neighbourhood populated primarily by Haitians. After the devastating earthquake, some relocated to the United States for safety concerns.

Frankie came to find Angelique Badeau, a 15-year-old Haitian girl who disappeared 11 months ago after school and has not been seen or heard from since. She joins with her aunt and her tiny computer-smart brother Emmanuel to help in her investigation service, gets a job at a local tavern, and shares a room with one of the wilder cats.

The locals are suspicious of a petite white lady snooping around their community, and they want to establish her true intentions, but she slowly finds a way to make them her trust this helps her obtain the vital information she requires. She also earns the confidence of Detective Lotham, who leads the inquiry. Their explosive chemistry might set the entire community on fire.

Franklin and detective Lotham soon discover that Angelique’s disappearance could be connected to another case- the case of 15-year-old Livia, the sister of a well-connected drug dealer. As the two dig deeper, it dawns on them that they are working on a complex and dangerous case of two missing girls rather than a simple case.

One Step Too Far

The second book in the Frankie Elkin series is a fast-paced, high-octane thriller that guarantees to keep you on the edge of your seat. The story is character-driven, and the author gives vivid descriptions of the densely forested wilderness in Montana. It’s full of thrills, chills, dark secrets, misdirection, twists and turns.

Tim O’Day, a seasoned camper and hiker, embarked on a backcountry hiking adventure deep in the woods with four friends five years ago. The adventure was just before Tim’s much-awaited wedding, and during a drunken booze party, they hear some strange noises. They all scattered to find the source of the noise, and during this commotion, Tim disappeared and was never found.

Martin, Tim’s frantic and obsessive father, organizes a search group every year intending to discover and return home his son’s remains. His dying wife desires to be buried next to her son in her last moments. Martin has been getting threatening messages to suspend this year’s search party, but his ambition to locate Tim’s body will not be stopped.

The annual search parties have been led by an experienced wilderness guide named Martin O’Day, whom the locals call the Big Foot Hunter. He keeps a list of all people reported missing in the forest. The Big Foot Hunter had ordered Tim’s four friends who accompanied him when he went missing, to attend the search every year. They are haunted by guilt and, at the same time, anger and resentment towards Martin as they do not want to be part of the search party. We learn that their friendship was torn and they were never on good terms with Tim.

Just before the departure, one of the friends collapses due to alcohol and is taken to hospital for rehabilitation. Frankie Elkin joins the search party with a vacant position to fill, even though everyone feels she’s unprepared to join. However, she’s highly determined to find Tim’s body. She understands that the families left behind matter much, just like the missing person. Even though most of her previous cases were in urban settings, she is determined to endure it all to discover what happened to Tim and bring his remains home.