In British author Heley’s fine 10th Ellie Quicke mystery (after 2008’s Murder in the Park
), nosy Ellie, recently married to her minister, must try to solve a missing persons case. After Ursula Belton, a distraught university student, stages a sit-in vigil at Ellie’s husband’s church, Ellie’s drawn into searching for Ursula’s best friend, Mia Prior. Mia disappeared after the drunken fatal fall of a male friend during the opening of posh Prior’s Place, a new block of upscale flats owned by Mia’s high-profile developer stepdad. As Ellie probes into Mia’s background, she comes under the radar of a gang led by Anthony and Timothy Prior, Mia’s stepbrothers. They stalk Ellie, Ursula’s mother and even Ellie’s daughter, Diana, hoping to find where battered Mia and Ursula have escaped to. More strong-coffee crime than weak-tea cozy, Heley’s unflinching take on just how low unscrupulous businessmen may go during recessionary times is an eye-opener. (Sept.)
