Missing, Presumed

Great news for mystery lovers! First we had Inspector Morse, of the Oxford constabulary; now we have Manon Bradshaw, of the Cambridgeshire Police. Steiner's crime novel has a slower pace than that of the average suspense novel as she gives considerable attention to developing her multidimensional characters. Bradshaw's search for a missing young woman ends up riding shotgun with the stellar cast that drives the story. Juanita McMahon's narration mirrors that quality, doing much to enhance the characters but little to build the suspense. Her transitions between characters--in dialogue and narrative--highlight the distinctness of individuals and pull the listener into their lives. While the plot may not develop the most suspenseful mystery, McMahon delivers a fictional world rich in sensory stimulation. J.F. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

March 21, 2016
In this richly plotted police procedural from British author Steiner (Homecoming), Edith Hind, a 24-year-old Cambridge graduate student, goes missing, leaving behind only a smear of blood and signs of a struggle at the flat she shares with her boyfriend. The pressure is on Det. Sgt. Manon Bradshaw, who excels at her job but has suffered a string of dreary Internet dates, and the rest of the Cambridgeshire Major Incident Team, since Edith’s father is Sir Ian Hind, physician to the royal family. Steiner slips smoothly among narrators, shifting from Manon’s ever-widening investigation to characters who are directly affected by Edith’s disappearance. As leads dry up and days missing increase, every scrap of case information is fodder for the press, who pounce on the more salacious aspects of Edith’s personal life, even as Manon and the team discover that the answers might be linked to something much more serious. A vein of dark humor pulses beneath this compelling whodunit with an appealing, complicated heroine at its center. Agent: Eleanor Jackson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.