"A fine romantic suspense"

In Klickitat, Julie Lofgren was a devoted mother to her two preadolescent children and president of the local Parent-Teacher Organization. Then she vanished. Everyone in town believes her husband Craig killed Julie, but no evidence surfaced over the next eighteen months since she disappeared and their son Brett insisted his "MOMMY SAID GOODBYE".

Brett has Julie's friend Robin McKinnon as his teacher this year. Robin surprisingly is perhaps the only person in town who believes what the two Lofgen males have to say about Julie. As Robin and Craig become reacquainted with one another, they fall in love. However, he still carries a cloud over his head and both have children to nurture. Police Officer Anne Caldwell tries a different investigative path that if fruitful will hurt the image of her deceased father (the former cop on this case). Craig has new hopes that he will be vindicated and can go on with his life with perhaps Robin and her son joining his and his two children in one happy family but he also realizes that Anne's father is the one who believed he committed homicide.

Fans of police procedural romance will want to read the exciting MOMMY SAID GOODBYE. The story line predominantly concentrates on Craig and his two children coping with being either pitiful cretins or vile pariahs. Robin is a refreshing individual unable to accept that this kind hearted father of two could kill his wife. The investigation by Ann is handled deftly so as to augment the prime tale with suspense and keep readers wondering what happened to Julie.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 25, 2004

Summary

What would you think if one day your wife disappeared, and everyone believed you were responsible?

How would you feel if the only thing that kept you from being arrested was your child's insistence that his mommy told him she was leaving?

And what would you do if you suspected your son was lying?

One day Craig Lofgren came home to discover that his wife was gone. He and his kids have been living in a nightmare ever since. The police think he killed her; the neighbors do, too. The only bright spot is Robin McKinnon, the one person who believes in Craig. But until his wife is found he has nothing to offer her. Welcome to purgatory.