The Naturals

Finished March 1
The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

This teen novel is set around a group of teenagers, but the girl telling the story 17-year-old Cassie. Five years ago, Cassie came across a difficult scene to deal with. Her mother was missing and her mother's dressing room showed signs of a violent struggle with lots of blood. No body has ever been found, and Cassie was sent to live with her paternal grandmother, since her father was stationed overseas with the military.
When Cassie is approached in the restaurant she waitresses in by the FBI, she is taken aback. They want her to join a group of teenagers being specially trained to take advantage of natural skills each has to do with solving crimes. They believe that Cassie is a natural profiler and with the right training she can be very skilled and a benefit to the FBI in solving cold cases. Cassie agrees to join the group, believing that this opportunity might bring her closer to answers about her mother. She meets a group of teens with very interesting interests and soon finds herself immersed in training.
But when a current case starts to get personal, Cassie and her fellow students find themselves trying to stay ahead of a very clever killer.
The characters here are interesting, each with their own quirk, hard to get to know, and eager to develop their skills. Cassie finds herself  unable to stay on the sidelines, which she has done up until now, and learns some things about her own issues as she does.