And the Lake Will Take Them

Sheriff Red Mysteries, Book 1

By: Linda Norlander

Narrated by: Elisabeth Ashby

Chilling cold cases resurface as Sheriff Red Hammergren hunts for a missing teen, exposing the dark underbelly of a storm-bound Minnesota town.

Amid a fierce snowstorm sweeping across rural Minnesota, an isolated cabin goes up in flames, leaving a critically injured high school drug dealer and a missing girl in its wake. The disappearance propels Sheriff Red Hammergren into action to find the troubled young girl, Missy Klein, the daughter of Junior Klein—the victim of an unsolved cold case years prior.

As Red peels back the layers of Missy's vanishing, she uncovers a chilling nexus of drug trafficking pervading through her community with roots to the local high school. Unknown to Red, her investigations have roused a malevolent presence, a killer lurking within the storm . . . a killer that would do anything to stop the sheriff's probing.

Red soon reveals a terrifying link between Missy's peril and the unresolved cold cases she has tirelessly sought to solve. Engulfed in a battle against both the elements and time, Red must navigate her community's shadowy corners and frozen woods to rescue Missy and halt the advances of a killer—all before the storm engulfs the truth in its icy grasp.

©2025 Linda Norlander (P)2025 Tantor Media

Not the place for politics

If I wanted a book about politics, I would have ordered a book about politics. I listen to books for the mystery and entertainment, not to have the author’s political ideologies forced upon me. In a society that tends to force their political beliefs onto others, I don’t need to hear about them further in a book that is touted as “Fiction/Mystery/Thriller.”

Mixed feelings

I have mix feelings about this book. I want to love it and I probably would have if it didn’t have political commentary, subtle as it was, throughout the book. I don’t appreciate spending money on an book only for the author to let their feeling be known on subjects no matter how they land on the scale. The storyline would have been well on its own as well as the characters as the political commentary added nothing to the story. I did enjoy the characters especially Red, and we do find out how she got the name Red. Overall the story was engaging and I know I wouldn’t enjoy winter in Minnesota. The narrator did an outstanding job.