Missing
E A Jackson
Emily Bestler Books
August 1990: London is enduring a heatwave when Detective Inspector Martha Allen is called to the scene of a baby’s abduction from a Pimlico hotel. Baby Bella Carpenter’s parents are justifiably frantic. They’d opened a window of the stifling hot bedroom only for Bella to vanish in the night. As the hours then days begin to tick by with no sign of Bella, the outlook’s grim. Allen’s dictum of methodical police work – that’s why they call us the Plod – comes into question by her male superiors and the media. Her professional instinct tells her Tom Carpenter is hiding something. When Bella is found alive and well Allen’s feeling persists, but she’s ordered to drop the case.
February 2020. Superintendent Allen has risen as far as she’ll ever rise in the Metropolitan Police. The Carpenter case has bugged her for decades, but the investigation ban holds. The death of Nell Beatty, the woman who found Bella all those years ago, offers a new approach. Nell’s account of the child’s finding never rang quite true, but she vanished before Allen could question her. She decides to dig into Nell’s history and uncovers a promising young life turned sordid by exploitation and drugs. Her search throws up unexpected connections. Some of the people concerned at the time are dead. Some are not. When Allen finally discovers what happened that fateful August night she’s faced with the most crucial decision of her career.
Missing is a genuine page-turner. Martha Allen is a sympathetic character dealing with her own heartaches and professional history while trying to do the right thing. The plot is tight and compelling, leaving the reader wishing for more.
