And There He Kept Her: A Novel

by Joshua Moehling

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Joshua Moehling’s debut is on solid ground in its writing and suspense. The opening gambit is simple – two teens go missing after breaking into someone’s house.“Propulsive” and “atmospheric” are two words that will alternate in your brain as you read this novel about a Deputy Sheriff, his secrets and the small town that holds even more secrets. It's perfect for fans of Moehling’s fellow Minnesota writers John Sandford and William Kent Krueger.

"Stellar debut." —Minneapolis Star Tribune

"A dark and complex mystery that will consume you." —Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author

They thought he was a helpless old man. They were wrong.

When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he's been keeping in his basement for more than two decades, and he'll do anything to keep his past from being revealed. As he gets the upper hand on his tormentors, the lines blur between victim, abuser, and protector.

Personal tragedy has sent former police officer Ben Packard back to the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake in search of a fresh start. Now a sheriff's deputy, Packard is leading the investigation into the missing teens, motivated by a family connection. As clues dry up and time runs out to save them, Packard is forced to reveal his own secrets and dig deep to uncover the dark past of the place he now calls home.

Unrelentingly suspenseful and written with a piercing gaze into the dark depths of the human soul, And There He Kept Her is a thrilling page-turner that introduces readers to a complicated new hero and forces us to consider the true nature of evil.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728275772
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	01/31/2023
Series:	Ben Packard , #1
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	8,119
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 5.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

JOSHUA MOEHLING grew up as an Army brat and moved all over the US and Germany. After attending college in South Dakota and Mankato, MN he moved to Minneapolis and began a career in the medical device industry. AND THERE HE KEPT HER is his first novel.

Editorial Reviews

"And There He Kept Her plays out like something on TV, resembling Yellowstone in its small-town setting and larger-than-life drama set against captivatingly detailed scenery...And There He Kept Her is a great opportunity to get into a new detective series at the ground level. Especially if you like the idea of the hardboiled detective novel but prefer your stories set in modern times with light touches of current social issues. Moehling’s is a strong debut." — Associated Press

"Whether Acting Sheriff Ben Packard turns out to be the hero of his own life, or whether 'that station will be held by anybody else,' I don’t care. I’m all in with him. " — Minneapolis Star Tribune

Lamda Literary Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Literature, June 2022

"Readers will find this book especially well written and polished…And There He Kept Her exploits the rich terrain of a small town where an overactive grapevine thrives and seemingly everyone conceals a secret." — Mystery Scene Magazine

"A book that begins with a shotgun blast can rarely be described as delightful, but that’s the case for Joshua Moehling’s And There He Kept Her. Vivid characters and a sharp sense of place prevent this debut novel from being your average small-town puzzler." — St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"The characterizations are sharply drawn, with a keen eye for humorous details and dialog. At the heart of all this, of course, is the hard-working, intelligent and deeply conflicted Ben Packard… Following along as [he] comes to terms with both his identity and his grief is almost as gripping as the suspenseful abduction plot, and certainly as entertaining." — Criminal Element

"Fans of Sue Grafton are going to love And There He Kept Her. Compulsively readable, Josh Moehling has crafted a dark and complex mystery that will consume you, starring a protagonist who is equal parts quirky Milhone and steady Gamache. In the wake of a tragic loss, sheriff’s deputy Ben Packard has returned to Sandy Lake, hoping to start over with a blank slate. What he finds is a town populated with eccentric characters and its own dark secrets, proving that small town life can still add up to big trouble." — Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight

"Joshua Moehling is a fresh, powerful new voice in crime fiction. His debut novel is a twisted ride with a detective you won’t soon forget. This book isn’t just unputdownable, it’s the definition of the word." — Samantha Downing, international bestselling author of For Your Own Good

"This is a remarkable debut—sharp, suspenseful, and emotionally powerful—sure to appeal to readers of Karin Slaughter and Lisa Gardner." — First Clue, Starred Review

"There’s a terrific new voice in crime fiction and it belongs to Joshua Moehling. And There He Kept Her is a taut, beautifully written thriller reminiscent of Karin Slaughter. A novel with heart, its protagonist, acting Sheriff Ben Packard, is the kind of hero we need today, a man wrestling with his sexual identity as he searches for missing teens in a small Minnesota town guarding secrets of its own." — Jonathan Santlofer, author of The Last Mona Lisa

"When Deputy Sheriff Ben Packard investigates the disappearance of two teenagers in Sandy Lake, Minnesota, he exposes the seamy underbelly of a small American town. And There He Kept Her is a sharp, intense thriller combining a dark plot with a relentless pace. An absorbing, impressive debut." — A. J. Banner, #1 Amazon, USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author

"Joshua Moehling has created realistic, extraordinarily complex characters...this is dark, gritty writing at its finest." — Book Reporter

From the Publisher

04/25/2022

Moehling trods well-traveled ground in his lackluster debut set in Sandy Lake, Minn. Teens Jesse Crawford and Jenny Wheeler hope to score prescription painkillers by burglarizing the home of an old man they expected to be unconscious at 4:30 a.m. But the man, Emmett Burr, catches them and guns down Jesse and seriously wounds Jenny. Burr, who has created a room in his basement to hold women he’s abducted before, confines Jenny there. The girl’s disappearance alarms her mother, who contacts a cousin of hers, Ben Packard, the acting county sheriff. The story alternates between Packard’s investigation and Jenny’s peril, as she’s threatened both by a creepy partner of her captor who raped his previous abductees and looming insulin shock. Packard’s backstory—his male lover, a fellow cop, was killed on the job—and his current efforts to find solace with another man don’t add anything to the by-the-numbers plot, and the characters come across more as types than people. Other writers have done a better job with the same setup. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Agency. (June)

Publishers Weekly