Missing
Will be published approx. on 17. March 2026
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-6680-7980-5 (ISBN)
Description
“Utterly gripping, intelligent, and haunting....A TRIUMPH.” —Will Dean, award-winning author of Adrift
A detective returns to a thirty-year-old case—an infamous disappearance in London—that has haunted her entire career and now may jeopardize her future in this “brilliant, pacy, gut-punch of a novel” (Matthew Blake, #1 internationally bestselling author), perfect for fans of Tana French.
In August 1990, London is suffering through an unprecedented heatwave when baby Bella Carpenter is snatched through the open window of her hotel room. Detective Inspector Martha Allen is assigned the high-profile case and, knowing that it could make or break her career, is determined to find Bella.
When a young woman named Nell Beatty walks into the police station with a baby who appears to be Bella, and whom Nell claims she found on a park bench, it seems that the mystery is solved, and her family is overjoyed. But DI Allen isn’t convinced, something about Nell’s story doesn’t ring true. As much as she wants to continue, however, now that the baby is safe, she’s ordered to close the investigation.
Thirty years later, Nell Beatty is found murdered. Now a superintendent, Allen has never really gotten over her doubts about the Carpenter case and can’t resist doing a little digging, eager to find out what happened to Nell, and her involvement in the baby’s disappearance all those years ago. But will her efforts uncover something darker than she could have ever imagined? And what is she risking as she tries once and for all to reveal the truth?
A detective returns to a thirty-year-old case—an infamous disappearance in London—that has haunted her entire career and now may jeopardize her future in this “brilliant, pacy, gut-punch of a novel” (Matthew Blake, #1 internationally bestselling author), perfect for fans of Tana French.
In August 1990, London is suffering through an unprecedented heatwave when baby Bella Carpenter is snatched through the open window of her hotel room. Detective Inspector Martha Allen is assigned the high-profile case and, knowing that it could make or break her career, is determined to find Bella.
When a young woman named Nell Beatty walks into the police station with a baby who appears to be Bella, and whom Nell claims she found on a park bench, it seems that the mystery is solved, and her family is overjoyed. But DI Allen isn’t convinced, something about Nell’s story doesn’t ring true. As much as she wants to continue, however, now that the baby is safe, she’s ordered to close the investigation.
Thirty years later, Nell Beatty is found murdered. Now a superintendent, Allen has never really gotten over her doubts about the Carpenter case and can’t resist doing a little digging, eager to find out what happened to Nell, and her involvement in the baby’s disappearance all those years ago. But will her efforts uncover something darker than she could have ever imagined? And what is she risking as she tries once and for all to reveal the truth?
More details
Language
English
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 36 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-6680-7980-5 (9781668079805)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
E.A. Jackson is an American transplanted to England. She was born in Philadelphia and lived in Iowa, Massachusetts, Arkansas, Cambridge, and Bristol before ending up in Exeter, where she now works as a senior lecturer at the University of Exeter.