Welcome to Litsy!

Long before there was a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, or a National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, there were just missing and murdered women and children. At the same time the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary executed Operation Wormwood in St. John's, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police launched Operation Vanished, a province-wide investigation into missing and murdered women and children. RCMP Corporal Gail McNaughton has just transferred into the Major Crime Unit at headquarters in St. John's. As the newest investigator, she is given a stack of missing people and murder files from the 1950s to "sharpen her skills." This is standard procedure for the new kid on the block. These files are challenging and difficult to investigate. Most of the witnesses have died or have aged. Memories fade, scenes were never secured, and DNA testing was not available. Closing any of these files would be near impossible without a confession. Corporal McNaughton befriends Larry Morgan, the son of one of the murdered women, and who is a Newfoundland and Labrador historical expert. Together they put together a list of transient people who would have visited the communities where each victim lived but would have gone unnoticed. From this list, McNaughton creates a list of suspects and begins to dig up ghosts from the past. She discovers that the files may be linked and sets out to prove her theory that a serial killer may have been operating in Newfoundland during the 1950s. Throughout the novel, Corporal McNaughton balances the care of her mother, who suffers from dementia, the jealousy of a sergeant who constantly belittles her, and night terrors that haunt her dreams