ARC Review: The Mystic and the Missing Girl by Vikki VanSickle

The Mystic and the Missing Girl
Author: Vikki VanSickle
Publication: Minotaur (September 8, 2026)

Description: Small town secrets, a reluctant psychic, and a cold case that could expose them all.

Drew Benson can read tarot cards and get impressions from objects―she just never expected to use her gifts to investigate an infamous cold case.

Drew Benson has a secret. She gets visions, something she hasn’t tapped into since she was a teenager, when her late aunt, a TV psychic known as Hannah Mystic, became the scapegoat in the unsolved disappearance of a local teenager. Twenty years later, Drew is happy to ignore her gift, focusing instead on keeping the metaphysical shop she inherited from Hannah afloat, wrangling her sole, astrology-obsessed employee, and dodging local rake Foster Banks in her picturesque lakeside hometown.

But when Drew's arch-nemesis from high school, now a big city reporter, decides to investigate the cold case from all those years ago, it’s Drew’s ability that could finally make a break in the decades old mystery. With bills piling up, a disapproving mother laying on the guilt, and a local vandal who wants Drew and her witchy store gone, Drew has a lot to lose. But what she stands to gain―finding out what happened to the missing teen, clearing her aunt’s name, and a second chance at belonging―could change everything.

In The Mystic and the Missing Girl, Vikki VanSickle seamlessly draws readers into an utterly charming world in this unputdownable, small town mystery.

My Thoughts: Drew Benson came home to Stanfield when she inherited her aunt's metaphysical shop and the apartment above it. Her aunt was Hannah Mystic, TV psychic, was a scapegoat in the disappearance of Ginny Evans, high school senior, twenty years earlier. Her psychic talents provided clues but didn't manage to find Ginny. 

It is the twentieth anniversary of Ginny's death, and someone is targeting Drew's new store with graffiti. Drew is on a shoestring budget already since the notoriety of the store seems to have died with her Aunt Hannah. She's worried about keeping the doors open and her one employee employed. 

When an old high school nemesis now turned reporter walks in the door and asks to see her aunt's journals, Drew finds herself involved in a new investigation into what happened to Ginny Evans all those years ago. She also finds herself using the psychic powers she set aside after seeing how her aunt was treated during the first investigation.

This was an excellent and engaging story. I liked the way Drew settles back into her hometown and makes a place of her own design there. I thought the mystery was well done. I liked the variety of characters in the story. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.