E. A. Jackson: Missing

In August 1990, five-month-old Bella Carpenter is taken from her hotel room through an open window. The disappearance becomes a high-profile case, and Detective Inspector Martha Allen is assigned to lead the investigation.

It seemed to be a continuing nightmare of failed leads when a young woman named Nell Beatty arrives at a police station with a baby she found on a bench.

The relief and celebration begins for everyone except Allen who is deeply uneasy at the turn of events. Something about Carpenter’s account doesn’t ring true and Allen can’t shake the sense that the real story has never been uncovered. Her doubts are dismissed however and the case is closed.

Thirty years later, the now Superintendent Allen learns of Beatty’s death. For her it seems one last chance to pursue the truth she was once forced to leave alone.

With a methodical investigation, and emotionally nuanced central detective, Missing is a slow-burn novel about truth, and the long shadow cast by one detectives unresolved case.

Missing is an incredibly satisfying book showing us a capable officer in the later years of her life and at the pinnacle of her career. Highly recommended read.