The Opinion Page

Set in Portland, Ore., this solid mystery from Ackley (The Patent Clerk’s Violin) focuses on two baffling disappearances. After four-year-old Melissa Davidson vanishes from a mall while shopping with her mother, Det. Galen Young of the Portland PD gets the case, but he makes no real progress. Meanwhile, the Oregon Sentinel’s Opinion Page editor, Robert Armlin, fails to return home, and his wife contacts the police. Young gets no leads on the Armlin case until he learns that a blond hair found in the editor’s abandoned car matches Melissa’s DNA. That discovery leads to the theory that Armlin abducted the child. Young pores through Armlin’s left-leaning editorials for a clue as to what happened and why. Ackley effectively integrates into the main plot Young’s family drama, which includes his raising his grandsons along with his wife after their eldest daughter was convicted for drug trafficking. Fans of intriguing puzzles populated by convincing characters will be pleased. (Self-published)