Catch You Later by Jessica Strawser

Catch You Later said Mikki Jensen to Lark Nichols as she impulsively joined a stranger in a BMW heading to a wedding in Florida in the latest novel from Jessica Strawser coming out October 22. Mikki had just made the man her fabulous iced coffee recipe when he extended his invitation. Open to a trip anywhere out of fictitious Becksville, Ohio, where she and Lark were still stuck working at a truck stop in their thirties, Mikki jumped at this opportunity to see the ocean.

The trouble is Mikki went to the wedding in 2016 yet never returned, never made contact again with her long-time best friend forever, leaving Lark with the responsibility of Mikki’s grandmother as well as her own child Dove. Lark created a campaign to find Mikki, even hiring a private investigator, who returned no results in the eight years since Mikki vanished without a trace.

Still working at the truck stop, Lark is startled when the BMW driver turns up again in 2024 asking for Lark and wondering where he might find Mikki. Lark calls the police who take in Chris Redmond for questioning about Mikki’s disappearance, and the search for Mikki gains new tread.

With Redmond showing up in Becksville again, Lark finds herself questioning if Mikki is actually missing or is it she just does not want to return to her life stuck in Nowhereville Ohio. Law enforcement briefly resurrect the case of a missing person only to drop it as soon as Redmond’s story about Mikki checks out. Lark persists even as she is warned off the case by police.

Where is Mikki? Why does Redmond say that Mikki came into some money? Why does he insist Mikki was on her way back to Lark after the wedding? What has happened to Mikki? The shocking conclusion holds answers to these questions.

Jessica Strawser, with seven  novels under her belt, is a full-time writer and a popular speaker at writing conferences, book clubs, and book festivals. The Next Thing You Know was a People magazine pick for 2023. She lives with her family in Ohio.