The Mitford Vanishing

Set in 1937, Fellowes’s cleverly plotted fifth mystery featuring the real-life Mitford family (after 2020’s The Mitford Trial) deepens the personality of series lead Louisa Cannon. Louisa, who was once a servant in the Mitford household, has come up in the world. She’s married her beau, former Scotland Yard inspector Guy Sullivan, and the couple have opened Cannon & Sullivan, a London detective agency. Business is slow, until the Mitford parents ask Louisa and Guy to help find their 19-year-old daughter, Jessica, known as Decca, who has disappeared. Decca told her parents she was traveling to Dieppe, France, to visit friends, but the older Mitfords have since learned that Decca lied about her plans. Meanwhile, Louisa and Guy get another client searching for a loved one when Julia Attwood consults them about her sister, Petunia, who hasn’t been heard from for three weeks. The PIs fear foul play after learning that Petunia alleged fraud at the insurance company she worked for as a secretary. Fellowes has plausibly transformed Louisa from amateur to professional sleuth. Maisie Dobbs fans will be pleased. Agent: Caroline Michel, Peters Fraser and Dunlop (U.K.). (Jan.)