The Girl They All Forgot

April 1, 2022
After an unprecedented gap of seven years, the prolific Edwards returns to the Lake District, where another cold case awaits DCI Hannah Scarlett and her squad, last seen in The Dungeon House (2015). When Bowness barmaid Ramona Smith vanished 21 years ago, her ex-lover Gerry Lace was arrested for her murder. Neither the not-guilty verdict in his trial nor his subsequent suicide brought closure to anyone but himself. Now that Gerry's son, Darren, has walked into Morecambe Bay and drowned himself on the 20th anniversary of his father's death at the same spot, Hannah's new boss, Police and Crime Commissioner Kit Gleadall, offers Hannah two new appointments to her Cold Case Review Team if she'll look again into Ramona's disappearance and speak with Darren's outraged ex-girlfriend, car mechanic Jade Hughes. In the meantime, estate agent Kingsley Melton, who watched Darren drown himself without making any attempt to rescue him, is having even more troubles than his questioning by the gimlet-eyed authorities. Tory Reece-Taylor, the trophy widow he sold a residence in Strandbeck Manor, has thrown him over for Logan Prentice, an IT consultant/pianist/actor Kingsley's convinced has already murdered nursing home resident Ivy Podmore under the impression that she'd changed her will in his favor--and he's convinced Prentice has equally greedy designs on Tory. There's much more intrigue, down to the star-struck fan whom lawyer Louise Kind has lined up for her brother Daniel, who's Hannah's ex-lover, and Edwards juggles all the subplots with a master's hand and even produces a pair of utterly surprising candidates for the title role. Welcome back, Cold Case Review Team. Please don't wait seven years for the next update.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 1, 2022
DCI Hannah Scarlett heads the Cold Crimes unit of the Cumbria Constabulary. Her new boss wants her to reopen the unsolved disappearance of Ramona Smith. A local man, Gerry Lace, was accused of killing Ramona, but a body was never found, and, eventually, Lace was acquitted. The case makes headlines once again after Lace's son, Darren, drowns himself. Meanwhile, wealthy widow Tory Reece-Taylor toys with two men, an eccentric estate agent and a handsome gigolo, pitting them against each other. In another plot strand, historian Daniel Kind, whose father worked on Ramona's disappearance, has been Hannah's boyfriend for years, but she's not sure the relationship is progressing. Still, when Daniel's life is threatened, Hannah knows she must act quickly to keep him safe while also using her cop intuition to find out what really happened to Ramona and what game Tory Reece-Taylor is playing. Edwards deftly weaves the multiple plots into a cohesive, quirky story with a smart heroine, fascinating insights into Lake District history, and a stunning conclusion.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 18, 2022
In the tantalizing opening of Edgar winner Edwards’s intriguing eighth mystery featuring Det. Chief Insp. Hannah Scarlett (after 2015’s The Dungeon House), cold case specialist Hannah asks an unidentified person why they killed Ramona Smith. Flash back 21 years. Smith, a barmaid, has vanished. Though her body hasn’t been found, the police, led by Det. Insp. Ben Kind, the father of Hannah’s lover and colleague, Daniel, are convinced she’s been murdered. Kind charges Gerry Lace, but Lace is acquitted at trial. Lace later dies by suicide by walking into the sea, leaving behind a note blaming his death on police harassment. Twenty years later, on the anniversary of that tragedy, Lace’s son, Darren, kills himself in the same way at the same spot on the coast. This new tragedy reattracts attention to the Smith case, a puzzle that Hannah must unravel, even if that means proving that Kind got it wrong. Edwards makes engagement easy through crisp prose and thoughtful characterizations. This skillful combination of procedural and whodunit will prompt newcomers to seek out earlier series entries. Agent: James Wills, Watson Little (U.K.).

April 18, 2022

When Darren Lace drowns himself by walking into Morecombe Bay, the new Police and Crime Commissioner Kit Gleadall pushes for an investigation. The Cumbria Constabulary has a small cold case review team headed by DCI Hannah Scarlett, and Gleadall promises her several new team members. Twenty-one years earlier, Ramona Smith left work one night and was not seen again. Darren Lace's father, Gerry, was the primary suspect in the case. Although he was acquitted, he lost his business, and his family was ruined. He drowned himself, and now his son has done the same. Hannah's mentor was the lead detective in the case against Gerry Lace, but he's dead now, killed by a hit-and-run driver. Now it's up to Hannah and her team to dig into the cold case in a community where everyone has an opinion or knew the missing woman. VERDICT Seven years after The Dungeon House, Edwards returns to England's Lake District for a bleak, leisurely paced mystery. Some might find there are too many viewpoints represented in this novel, but readers who appreciate an atmospheric story with a strong sense of place will be satisfied.--Lesa Holstine

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