Detective Manon Bradshaw moves from London to Cambridgeshire along with her adopted 12-year-old son Fly, her sister Ellie and her nephew Solly. She thought life would be easier away from the big city but Fly wants to go back to London and life isn't easy when you are a 40-year-old single woman and five months pregnant. Things get more complicated when Solly's estranged father is murdered and Fly is the first suspect.
The second novel featuring Manon Bradshaw, I have to say I found the first novel, Missing Presumed, more suspenseful and engaging. This sequel has a slow start and it took me a while to be absorbed by the story. Although the murder is central to the story, the novel focuses largely on Manon's home life, her feelings towards her adoptive son and her unborn child, and her fears of raising a family on her own. There is a love story, too, and complicated family and friends relationships. All in all, with complex characters and a twisty plot, this is a dark and chilling novel. (NP)
