Taken Without a Trace: Author Guest Post + Giveaway

Taken Without a Trace JustRead Blog Tour

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Taken Without a Trace by Hope Welborn, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About the Book

Title: Taken Without a Trace
Author: Hope Welborn
Publisher: Love Inspired Suspense
Release Date: August 25, 2026
Genre: Romantic Suspense

A missing person case…

or a deadly cover-up?

Georgia Special Agent Cash Brenner gets an anonymous tip on a cold case that’s haunted him for years—but following the lead has him walking into a deadly ambush. He’s saved by his ex, private investigator Maya Reid, who is on a mission to find her missing sister. As eerie similarities between their investigations emerge and Cash grapples with memory loss from the attack, they must put their rocky past aside to find answers. With danger lurking at every turn, Cash and Maya need to act quickly to solve the case and locate Maya’s sister—or risk losing everything they hold dear.

From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith.

Also Available

About the Author

Award-winning author Hope Welborn writes spine-tingling suspense, sprinkled with romance, and saturated with faith. By day, she masquerades as a digital content marketing technology specialist, and by night, she stays up too late putting words on the page. Hope is also co-owner and design/technology manager for Spark Flash Fiction and a member of the Suspense Squad. She has two indie published works, and her next novel will release from Love Inspired Suspense in August 2026. She is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Connect with Hope by visiting hopewelborn.com to follow her on social media and subscribe to email newsletter updates.

Author Guest Post

Small towns are the heart of America. I was raised in one, but whether you grew up in a rural area or an urban setting, there’s something appealing about a place where everyone knows each other and a friend is always just around the corner. 

That’s what makes writing danger and suspense in small towns so much fun. The tagline on my website is “Small Towns, Big Suspense,” and I chose it because of that contrast. In romantic suspense, the safest-looking places can hide the darkest secrets. 

One of the biggest lures of a small-town setting is the expectation that it should be safe. People know their neighbors. They recognize the person behind the counter at the local café. They know which roads to avoid during rush hour—which, in my hometown, usually consists of five cars and a tractor. 

That comfortable familiarity gives a suspense writer something to disrupt. A disappearance, attack, murder, or conspiracy feels especially threatening when it happens somewhere the characters believe they understand. Danger feels different when it comes to a place that feels like home. 

In my Christmas novella, Hidden, the heroine retreats to her family’s mountain cabin to escape troubling circumstances. She goes there seeking safety and familiarity—only to discover that trouble has followed her. 

Isolation also makes for great suspense. A writer doesn’t have to abandon the elements that make a location appealing to create danger. Instead, we can use them as part of the suspense. 

In an urban thriller, danger might come from crowds, strangers, dark alleys, or anonymity. In a small town, danger can come from the opposite direction: there’s nobody around. 

A quiet mountain road becomes frightening when a character realizes she’s being followed. A wooded hiking trail becomes dangerous when someone is hurt and help is miles away. A picturesque lake can hide a body. An old building everyone recognizes can hide something sinister. 

In my novel Trail of Danger, my hero and heroine flee along the Appalachian Trail in the northeast Georgia mountains, hoping to elude criminals. The remote location that initially helps them escape soon becomes another enemy as they face harsh weather, dwindling supplies, dangerous cliffs, and a raging river. 

And in my newest release, Taken Without a Trace, Special Agent Cash Brenner finds himself in a life-or-death situation when he enters an abandoned warehouse searching for answers to a missing-person cold case—and quickly realizes he should never have gone in without backup. 

Close relationships are another part of small-town charm, and they create wonderful opportunities for suspense. Information travels quickly—but so do secrets, rumors, and misinformation. Everybody knows everybody...or do they? 

Connections overlap. The sheriff may have gone to school with the suspect. The victim’s mother may attend church with the investigator’s aunt. Someone remembers what kind of car you drove ten years ago. 

That makes anonymity difficult. Old grudges and relationships complicate investigations. Characters may know too much about one another—or think they do. A community can share generations of history while still harboring events people don’t discuss, relationships outsiders don’t understand, and secrets buried beneath ordinary lives. 

That naturally lends itself to cold cases, missing persons, family secrets, cover-ups, and old crimes. 

And that’s what I love most about blending small-town charm with suspense. Readers get a place they’d love to visit—along with just enough danger to make them glad they’re experiencing it from the safety of their favorite reading chair. 

Because in a small town, everyone knows everyone—but nobody knows everything. 

Tour Giveaway

(1) winner will receive a signed paperback copy of Taken Without a Trace, a copy of both Hidden and Trail of Danger (also by Hope Welborn), and a $15 Amazon gift card!

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight August 24, 2026 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on August 31, 2026. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

Tuesday, August 25, 2026