Presumed Dead by Shirley Wells

I received this book from the Author as part of the First Reads promotion on the Goodreads website.

Having developed a taste for crime mysteries lately I was very happy to hear that I would be receiving a copy of this book to read and review. It's the second in the Dylan Scott Mysteries, the first being  'Dead Silent' which I have yet to read but this was not a problem in picking up the story and characters involved in it.

Dylan Scott has problems. Dismissed in disgrace from the police force for assaulting a suspect, he has no job, his wife has thrown him out and-worse luck-his mother has moved in. So when Holly Champion begs him to investigate the disappearance of her mother thirteen years ago, he can't say no, even though it means taking up residence in the dreary Lancashire town of Dawson's Clough for the duration.

Although the local police still believe Anita Champion took off for a better life, Dylan's inquiries turn up plenty of potential suspects: the drug-dealing, muscle-bound bouncer at the club where Anita was last seen; the missing woman's four girlfriends, out for revenge; the local landowner with rumored mob connections-the list goes on. But no one is telling Dylan all they know-and he soon finds that one sleepy Northern town can keep a lot of secrets.

So when I read that I thought it sounded interesting and I was curious about which track the author would take as there aren't really that many reasons for someone to go missing like this are there?

The storyline switches between Dylan's efforts to reunite with his estranged wife Beverley while spending time with his son and away from his mother and his time involved in trying to discover Anita Champion's last movements and what may have happened to her. We follow his movements up and down the country and even a visit abroad or two. Each location described well and full of characters that are easy to read about and a few that become favourites as you read more about them, both who they are and, for some, why they are the way they are now.

We learn more and more about Anita's lifestyle and although the ending was a cliche, it wasn't one I saw coming, I totally missed a very subtle hint about what had happened to Anita which made the reading of this book very enjoyable as it wasn't at all obvious what had happened.

There's a great flow to the writing and it's a great read which I thoroughly enjoyed, now I guess I should go find myself a copy of 'Dead Silent' to read as well!