The Mystic and the Missing Girl

• Author: Vikki Vansickle
• Genre: Cozy Mystery
• Publication Date: September 8, 2026
• Publisher: Minotaur Books/Macmillan Audio

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for providing me with an ARC of this e-book and audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Reluctant psychic 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.

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of a good cozy mystery. Honestly, I didn’t even realize that this was going to be a cozy with the paranormal elements in the story, but it worked well for me. Being approved for both the ebook and audiobook versions made this so easy to listen to it whenever I couldn’t sit and read the book. So let’s get into my review!

To start with, I absolutely adored Drew. She’s a complex, well-rounded character and her motivation to step in and try to solve a cold case was well-justified. When a girl goes missing, Drew’s aunt tried to use her psychic abilities to find her, and everything goes off the rails, with the case going cold. Although Drew hasn’t used her own paranormal abilities since her teen years, she feels obligated to help out and hopefully clear her aunt’s name.

Since this was an audiobook, I have to say a few words about the narrator. Veronica Hortiguela perfectly voiced Drew’s character. She was believable as Drew and provided a voice that fit her age and felt as though I was really hearing Drew’s thoughts and words in her own voice. However, when it came to the side characters they were all voiced similarly, making it difficult to identify which character was speaking. 

Although the story got off to a slow start, once I got past the first quarter of the book things moved faster. The beginning was focused pretty heavily on giving the reader an understanding of the background and the major players in the story, as well as offering insight into Drew and her motivations. It made it a lot easier to feel like I knew Drew and got invested in the story. 

Cozies typically have lower stakes than other types of mystery books, and this one was no different. The stakes feel high because Drew is working to clear her aunt’s name, and there is some blowback on Drew from her relation to Hannah. Working as a psychic on television turned Hannah Mystic into a star, and she tried to use her psychic gifts to find a missing teenager. Unfortunately, her help turned into a dead end, and she was quickly blamed for the inability to find her. This motivates Drew to become an amateur sleuth twenty years later. 

Her investigation is complicated by multiple factors. First and foremost is that people don’t want to trust Drew because of her aunt. Drew is also trying to avoid someone—the local womanizer, Foster Banks—who has the worst habit of showing up at the worst possible times. Additionally, her high school enemy Nick is now an investigative reporter who needs Drew’s help to look into this cold case and hopefully figure out something new. I loved the enemies to friends vibe between these two, and I especially loved that the author deliberately chose not to include any romantic subplot. While I do enjoy a nice slow-burn romance in a cozy mystery, I think it would have overshadowed more important aspects of the story and felt a bit cluttered. 

There is plenty going on in the book aside from the investigation. There’s Hannah’s metaphysical shop that she left to Drew which is struggling to stay afloat. The growing friendship between Drew and Nick kept me intrigued, but I loved seeing Drew’s personal growth over the course of the story. From nurturing her gifts as a teenager with her aunt to turning her back on them, she begins to tap into her long-neglected talent. The story leans heavily into tarot, flash visions, and psychometry (getting impressions or feelings by touching an item). The tarot aspect was done really well, and it is clear that the author is quite knowledgeable about the subject matter. 

Overall, this was a fantastic read. The narration for Drew is done well, even if the rest of the characters sound pretty similar. A slow-paced start picks up after about 25% and makes the rest of the read enjoyable and kept things intriguing. The heavy emphasis on tarot and other ‘witchy’ elements were done very well, and it kept me reading late into the night. I loved Drew’s character and appreciated the author’s deliberate decision not to include any romantic storyline in this book. While some books have romances that flow, not all books need a romance to be successful, and VanSickle made a good choice in my opinion. Although there were a few things that I didn’t love, there were a lot more things about the book that I did enjoy.

Bottom line: A wonderful cozy that leans more heavily into metaphysical and paranormal elements and less into romance and puns, but it was well-done and enjoyable.

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