A Girl from Ohio

From the author of Their Shadows Deep comes a powerful story of first love and second chances, deadly secrets and life-changing truths, closed chapters and open doors. Bestselling author and esteemed Ohio University Professor Emmet Maze is at the height of his career—and a world away from his troubled New Jersey youth. But when a young woman enters his office with a desperate plea, it changes his life forever. Jenn Newlin is the spitting image of her mother, Kaya, a face Emmet could never forget. As college students in the ’70s, he and Kaya were inseparable, falling in love and supporting each other’s dreams in a post-Vietnam America. But after three years together, the budding journalist and brilliant math student abruptly parted ways. And Kaya married another man. Now, that man is missing, and Kaya and Jenn beg Emmet to help find him. But as Emmet digs into his disappearance, he uncovers a dangerous web of murder, fraud, and organized crime. And while he’s swept up in a rush of familiar emotions, he makes an even more shocking discovery—and faces a true test of his soul. © 2026 by Chestnut Street Press Inc., all rights reserved.