Missing, Presumed (DS Manon Bradshaw Series) by Susie Steiner

Hardback:  At thirty-nine, Manon Bradshaw is a devoted and respected member of the Cambridgeshire police force, and though she loves her job, what she longs for is a personal life. Single and distant from her family, she wants a husband and children of her own.  One night, after yet another disastrous Internet date, she turns on her police radio to help herself fall asleep - and receives an alert that sends her to a puzzling crime scene.

Edith Hind - a beautiful graduate student at Cambridge University and daughter of the surgeon to the Royal Family - has been missing for nearly twenty-four hours. Her home offers few clues: a smattering of blood in the kitchen, her keys and phone left behind, the front door ajar but showing no signs of forced entry.  Manon instantly knows that this case will be big - and that every second is crucial to finding Edith alive.

The investigation starts with Edith's loved ones:  her attentive boyfriend, her reserved best friend, her patrician parents.  As the search widens and press coverage reaches a frenzied pitch, secrets begin to emerge about Edith's tangled love life and her erratic behaviour leading up to her disappearance.

With no clear leads, Manon summons every last bit of her skill and intuition to close the case, and what she discovers will have shocking consequences not just for Edith's family but for Manon herself.

Suspenseful, beautifully and stylishly written and keenly observed, Missing, Presumed (2016) - the first instalment in the DS Manon series set in Cambridgeshire, England - is a brilliantly twisting novel of how we seek connection, grant forgiveness, and reveal the truth about who we are.

About the author:  Susie Steiner grew up in north London, studied English at university and trained as a journalist.  She worked in newspapers for twenty years, eleven of them on staff at The Guardian. Her first novel, Homecoming, was published by Faber & Faber to critical acclaim in 2013.  Her second, Missing, Presumed was a Sunday Times bestseller which introduced detective Manon Bradshaw.  It was a Richard & Judy book club pick and has sold 200 000 copies to date in the UK.

Missing, Presumed was selected as one of the Guardian’s, Wall Street Journal’s and NPR's standout books of 2016.  It was longlisted for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year and the 2017 Barry Awards Best First Novel.  Persons Unknown (2017), the sequel to Missing, Presumed, is her third novel.  Susie has written extensively about losing her eyesight to Retinitis Pigmentosa.  She lives in London with her husband and two children and is currently working on a third Manon Bradshaw mystery.

Rating:  5/5