The Orphanage by the Lake

It’s not easy being New Yorker Hazel Cho. Her parents, who are from Korea, find her private-investigation business brings shame on her family. Why can’t she be a doctor or lawyer? She lives in a small New York Chinatown apartment with a roommate who has a crush on her, and it’s not mutual. Not to mention that the rent is due and her latest client won’t pay and is turning violent. So when wealthy, commandeering Madeline Hemsley turns up looking to hire Hazel and will pay thousands now and a bonus of $100,000 if she finds Madeline’s missing goddaughter, Mia, by the end of the following week, it’s a dream come true. Well, financially it is, but definitely not professionally, as this case is cold. Madeline has hired multiple private investigators before who couldn’t find the girl, who is missing from a private orphanage—oops, children’s home. The police insist that Mia must have run away, but as Hazel investigates goings-on at the school and its wealthy benefactors, things don’t add up. Romance steals its way in when Hazel meets a dashing donor at a school benefit, and while things seem to be going her way at last, they soon turn scary. Miller brings us on a twisting path to finding the truth, one that immerses readers in both the life of a likeable, struggling young entrepreneur and the frustrations of a missing-person investigation, both to great effect.