Missing, Presumed

By: Susie Steiner

Narrated by: Juanita McMahon

Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Mid-December, and Cambridgeshire is blanketed with snow. Detective Sergeant Manon Bradshaw tries to sleep after yet another soul-destroying Internet date - the low murmuring of her police radio her only solace.

Over the airwaves come reports of a missing woman - door ajar, keys and phone left behind, a spatter of blood on the kitchen floor. Manon knows the first 72 hours are critical: you find her, or you look for a body. And as soon as she sees a picture of Edith Hind, a Cambridge postgraduate from a well-connected family, she knows this case will be big.

Is Edith alive or dead? Was her 'complex love life' at the heart of her disappearance, as a senior officer tells the increasingly hungry press? And when a body is found, is it the end or only the beginning?

©2015 Susie Steiner (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Gripping, authentic, funny and moving, Missing, Presumed hits the sweet spot between literary and crime fiction. The plot is gripping, with a twist that knocked me sideways, swiftly followed by another one that knocked me back in the other direction. More than that, the characters became dear friends over the course of the book. I'm already looking forward to the next one." (Erin Kelly)
"Within a chapter, DS Manon Bradshaw announces herself as a detective to follow through books and books to come. A treat in store for those who love their crime fiction rich in psychology, beautifully written and laced with dark humour. Dive in." (Lucie Whitehouse)

"DS Manon Bradshaw is a messed-up, big-hearted detective in the best tradition." (Harriet Lane)

"Within a chapter, DS Manon Bradshaw announces herself as a detective to follow through books and books to come. A treat in store for those who love their crime fiction rich in psychology, beautifully written and laced with dark humour. Dive in." (Lucie Whitehouse)

Entertaining read!

Good absorbing story, well narrated with likeable, believable characters and some laugh-out-loud lines. Will definitely be downloading the other books in the series.

Must listen to the sample

Very mediocre which was a shame as I had listened to the author on a local radio program and it was set close to my home.

First bugbear and it was my own fault - I cannot stand stories written in the present tense. They grate on me so much that I cannot get past the tense and into the story with ease.
I don't much like female narrators either, especially when they properly read every word and are somewhat prissy into the bargain. This one wasn't great at male voices and her accents, especially the Scots, were haphazard.

Beyond all that, the premise of the story was interesting - was she missing or was she dead? The main female lead was far too emotionally flakey for a middle level police officer and she stepped over the line with her emotional entanglements with players, witnesses, on the fringe of the story line. I wanted to smack her several times.

Of course one had to tick all the PC boxes - the lesbian relationship, the gay relationship, the heroic villain and the good black person. It'd be nice to read something without the "gay is normal and widespread" mantra being thrust down ones throat.

It was well over long, I think the author sought to enlist the aid of every descriptor known to man (or woman) - it could have been reduced by 1/3 and no one would have noticed.

I still ask myself why I bothered with it - apathy and no other good yarns on my iPhone at the time but I won't be getting the next in the series where the flakey, now DI, seems to have got herself knocked up. This book really irritated me - I don't usually write reviews!

if you're looking for mysteries, then search on.

This is not a crime novel, more of a character gallery of pretty uninteresting people. The tempo is so slow I kept looking at the "time remaining"-meter wondering when it whould pick up. I'm not one for fast paced books with lots of action, so for me to be bored with a story is quite the achievement.
The main character is sort of dull. She's portrayed as this vulnerable yet clever woman in the middle of a midlife crisis. But her story is so boring I can't even remember her name (finished the book 30 min ago). The writing is okay, there are some nice depictions in there, but far from enough to make an interesting read.