Persons Unknown

Starred review from May 8, 2017
Det. Insp. Manon Bradshaw is back in Steiner’s stellar sequel to 2016’s Missing, Presumed. Although she’s officially assigned to missing persons cases, Manon couldn’t be more interested in the inquiry into the stabbing murder of London wealth manager Jon-Oliver Ross, given the case’s personal ties to her family. After her brief stint in London, during which she adopted her 12-year-old son, Fly Dent, Manon decided to return home to Cambridgeshire, much to Fly’s dismay; he hates being the only black boy in a predominantly white village. Racial profiling is everywhere; Fly soon becomes the prime—and only—suspect in the murder of Ross, who came to Cambridgeshire to visit his ex-girlfriend and son—Manon’s sister, Ellie, and nearly three-year-old nephew, Solomon. Manon’s old team, including her former underling, the recently promoted Det. Sgt. Davy Walker, seem quick to jump to conclusions and align the evidence so that it points to Fly as the culprit. Steiner grapples with serious social justice issues in a darkly humorous crime novel not to be missed. Agent: Eleanor Jackson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner.