Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger

Nell Flynn couldn't wait to get out of Suffolk County.  She doesn't have good memories from her childhood there after her mother was murdered when Nell was seven.  Her father was a homicide detective and was briefly suspected but he and Nell were miles away, camping in the forest.  Afterwards, though, her father was cold and distant as her mother had supplied all the warmth and color a little girl loved. 

Now Nell has returned after the death of her father in a motorcycle accident.  Nell is now an FBI agent; she lives her life on the road, consulting with police departments across the country on serial killers.  The life suits her; she has no interest in forming relationships with anyone.  Her last case left her wounded so she is out on leave to heal and has time to settle the estate and decide whether or not to sell the house and sever the last ties with her childhood.

When a body is found, a detective who was a childhood friend comes calling.  Lee wants Nell's help and expertise.  When Nell finds that there was another body found a year earlier and that her father was working on the case, her interest is piqued.  Soon she finds the pattern.  Both victims are young Hispanic women, both were occasional escorts hiring out to party with the wealthy men who inhabit Suffolk County and its beaches in the summer.  Both were dismembered then tied up in burlap and buried.  Is there a serial killer at work?  And horrible as it sounds, was that killer Nell's father?  The clues could point his way and he was hiding a lot of secrets.  Can Nell discover the truth?

Alger has written an interesting novel about how our childhood influences our choices in life.  Nell is wounded by her early loss and her father's coldness and distance.  Her mother's murder pointed the way to Nell's career and her father's skills and early influence made her a skillful investigator.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.