Author : Susie Steiner
Narrators : Juanita McMahon
Genre : Mystery
Publisher : Random House Audio
Listening Length : 12 hours 52 minutes
Rating : 4/5
Narrator Rating : 5/5
Missing Presumed is Book 1 in the Manon Bradshaw novels. Book 2 is out already and I hope there are many more coming because Missing Presumed was great.
Detective Sergeant Manon Bradshaw is a single, 39 year old policewoman out to solve the case of missing 24 year old Cambridge student Edith Hind. The pressure is on, because the first 72 hours are crucial and also because Edith’s father has some clout – he’s friends with the Home Secretary. The mystery is a hard one to solve – time passes by with Manon none the wiser.
Now there are murder mysteries galore, but this book (and hopefully all of Steiner’s work) stands out because of the depth she gives to her characters. Manon Bradshaw is a fully-fleshed out protagonist. It is almost like the book is about Manon with a mystery thrown in as a bonus. The book starts out by recounting one of Manon’s blind dates, one that doesn’t quite work out. Manon is lonely but hopeful; she is out dating almost everyday hoping she’ll meet the one.
It is not just Manon who is so well-sketched out. We get to know the victim a little, and there are some musings from Edith’s mother Miriam who is also lonely but in a different way. Then there’s Manon’s colleague Davy, her boss Stanton and potential boyfriend Alan.
The mystery itself ended a bit under-whelmingly, but I’m looking forward to reading the next Manon Bradshaw novel because I like her strong, brave character and I also appreciate the details about the other people in the book. It makes them come to life, gives one a feel for them, so to speak, and gets me invested in seeing the mystery to its end.
Missing Presumed has a “literature” like feel to it, which is kind of rare (Tana French’s work comes to mind). I like that Steiner takes her time in getting to the crux of the matter, an it was a real pleasure listening to Juanita McMahon give voice to it. Highly recommended.
