Author: Susie Steiner
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: June 2, 2020
Book Description: An immigrant’s mysterious death sets off a chilling hunt for the truth in this gripping crime novel from the author of Missing, Presumed, featuring a “delightful protagonist who deserves a place alongside other beloved literary detectives” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
Newly married and navigating life with a preschooler as well as her adopted adolescent son, Manon Bradshaw is happy to be working part-time in the cold cases department of the Cambridgeshire police force, a job that allows her to potter in, coffee in hand, and log on for a spot of Internet shopping—precisely what she had in mind when she thought of work-life balance. But beneath the surface Manon is struggling with the day-to-day realities of what she’d assumed would be domestic bliss: fights about whose turn it is to clean the kitchen, the bewildering fatigue of having a young child while in her forties, and the fact that she is going to couples counseling alone because her husband feels it would just be her complaining.
But when Manon is on a walk with her four-year-old son in a peaceful suburban neighborhood and discovers the body of a Lithuanian immigrant hanging from a tree with a mysterious note attached, she knows her life is about to change. Suddenly, she is back on the job full-force, trying to solve the suicide—or is it a murder—in what may be the most dangerous and demanding case of her life.
Rating: 2 1/2 Stars
Review: This is the third book the Manon Bradshaw Detective series. These stories focus more on the procedural side of things, but after spending time with Manon, you will get to the know her personal side and to me that is the best part of the story.
The case that is the focus is that of a mysterious death of an immigrant, who Bradshaw found hanging in the local park where she had taken her young son. Bradshaw, had been recently working cold cases after coming back from maternity leave, but of course she is asked to join the team that will run this case.
Alternately Manon is dealing with her home life, and she is dealing with a lot. Unfortunately, I wanted more of these scenes, because by the far they were the best. That is when I felt we got the best of Manon, even when she was trying to push through.
This was my least favorite in the series. I found myself not even really caring about the case Bradshaw was trying to solve, so my mind was wandering a lot. At times this book felt very blah and the ending just felt like why did you end this book that way? I do want to make one note that I did read the author’s note at the end and I do think I felt more sympathetic to this story. I am not sure if this was placed at the beginning, I might have gone into this with a different mindset, but I will never know.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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