Dream Girl: A Maine Mystery by Willee Amsden is a historical fiction novel packed full of mystery and suspense that will have you gasping out loud. Set in the late 1930s, Dexter “Dex” Davis was a war veteran and now a handyman in Bangor Maine. The war did a number on his mind, and when Dex started to have terrible dreams of a young woman being in trouble, he thought nothing of it. But when Amos Slade went missing along with a young girl, Dex was suspicious. When Etta Slade asked Dex to find her missing husband, Dex was joined by Lu, a waitress who had troubles of her own. The two will have to think fast because the only witness to the disappearances was Amos’s mentally challenged son. Someone or some people were doing everything they could to stop Dex and Lu from getting to the truth. Can they find Amos and the young girl before it is too late?

With the Great Depression and the Polio pandemic in the background, author Willee Amsden crafted a fantastic tale of suspense and mystery. This is not your usual mystery novel with twists that make you scoff. Amsden did research to make sure the characters were fully developed, and the story had a solid foundation to build upon. You hardly come across such masterful mysteries anymore. It reminded me of Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd because the background building was just as excellent. The narrative style was perfect, the pace was perfect, and the characters were perfect. There was hardly a moment when I was able to predict something. Sonny was my favorite after Dex and was, perhaps, the only person who could change the story. The ending was unexpected and beautiful! I highly recommend this novel to anyone who loves to read and not just mysteries.

Dexter Davis has been living a quiet life in Bangor, Maine, ever since he came home from the war nearly twenty years ago. It’s the 1930s and the recession has hit everyone hard, but he scrapes along doing odd jobs. Then two things happen. First, he meets Lu, the beautiful new waitress at his favorite diner. Second, he takes a job looking for a missing farmer and businessman, Amos Slade. Dexter’s investigation leads him into the dark underbelly of Bangor, a mess of corruption that reaches even the local police force, where he discovers that Slade’s disappearance is connected to another missing person, a young prostitute he’d been seeing at a local brothel and that there are huge sums of money at play, not to mention reputations. So, it's no surprise that Dexter isn’t the only one investigating. Between the increasingly convoluted case and his evolving relationship with the lovely and spicy Lu, Dex begins to wonder if he’s bitten off more than he can chew.

Dream Girl, a prequel of sorts to Wilee Amsden’s Annie McCauley Romantic Comedy Mystery series, is a nail-biting whodunnit set in 1930s Bangor, Maine. It works perfectly as a stand-alone novel or as a supplement to the popular series. Amsden, a Maine native himself, infuses his latest book with gritty realism and lovely description, not to mention a touch of romance. The mystery is expertly plotted and Amsden’s subtle clues, red herrings, unexpected twists, and all too human characters will keep readers guessing until the last page.