Changeling

In Wesolowski’s exceptional third outing for British podcast host Scott King (after 2018’s Hydra), King, who has become something of an internet sensation (and target), may be biting off more than he can chew when a listener’s letter hinting at having inside information spurs him to tackle the Everest of U.K. cold cases: the Christmas Eve, 1988, disappearance of seven-year-old Alfie Marsden on a desolate road near the Welsh border during the few minutes that Alfie’s father, Sorrel, was under the hood of their car troubleshooting some ominous knocks. What does King reasonably hope to discover three decades on, if he can even manage to connect with now-elusive key players, including Sorrel and Alfie’s publicly excoriated mother, from whose alcohol-fueled rage Sorrel claims to have been trying to rescue the boy that fateful night? The accounts of the six witnesses King manages to line up for his podcast are by turns haunting, horrifying, and heartrending. Fans of Arthur Machen, whose unsettling tale “The White People” provides an epigraph, will want to check this one out. Agent: Sandra Sawicka, Marjacq (U.K.). (Sept.)