I am a huge fan of Rhys Bowen, and The Rose Arbor did not disappoint. It's definitely a new favorite.

:Liz is working her way up as a news reporter in 1968. She was just demoted, her boyfriend has skipped town, and she has helicopter parents. She's trying to make her own way, but it looks bleak.

Then she gets a tipoff about a recent missing girl, and she decides to take the slim chance to report on the story. This opens up a web of carefully crafted lies, and she chases different clues to figure out what happened to three girls who went missing in the war years.

This was well done. We follow Liz as she tries to extract the truth, opening up her own life story and shattering her perfect home life. There are so many questions to be answered, and Liz doesn't give up. Along the way she meets a potential romantic interest who helps her uncover the truth. Will everything be a dead end, and she'll lost her job? Or will she get to the bottom of the mystery and finally find love?

For the most part, the story was credible and compelling. I didn't want to put the book down until I knew what happened! Rhys Bowen is a master of laying out all of the information ahead of time, sprinkling the clues throughout the book, so when it all comes together at the end it makes sense and is satisfying..

Her non-series books usually go back and forth between time periods, which isn't my favorite outline, but this one doesn't. It does have some flashbooks that provide an added layer of depth and mystery.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing, and the author for an ARC of this book and the opportunity to provide an honest review.

London 1968: Liz Houghton is writing obits for a London newspaper but longs to go back to writing news. The disappearance of a little girl, Lucy, has captivated the city and if Liz can break the story, it just may be the way to return to new reporting. Liz's friend and flat mate Marissa is a police officer assigned to the case with senior detective DI Jones.
Liz follows the detectives to Dorset where she makes the discovery of three little girls who disappeared when being evacuated during the war. DI Jones was involved with the cases of the girls...one was found dead, but no trace was ever found of the other two.
No further clue being found in Dorset, the detectives are called back to London. Liz, however, finds herself drawn to the village of Tydeham, requisitioned during the war by the military and the residents forced to leave their village behind with the promise that they could return once the war was over. Why does a place that Liz has never been to before seem strangely familiar to her?

This is the first book by author Rhys Bowen that I have read and I look forward to reading more of her stories. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this story prior to publication.