Publisher's Weekly Review
This middling series launch from Agatha winner Malliet (the Max Tudor novels) introduces Augusta Hawke, a widowed bestselling mystery author who lives in a "quaint village" in northern Virginia. Her boring routines are shaken up by the disappearance of her neighbors, Niko and Zora Norman. Augusta, a born busybody, thought she heard a woman's cry from the Norman home before they went missing and can't resist poking into the police inquiry--or being attracted to the hunky police detective in charge. Her investigation takes her out-of-state and into predictable peril. At the start, revelations about the mental issues of Augusta's parents suggest she will be a psychologically complex lead, but she turns out to be a Jessica Fletcher--wannabe without that character's empathy or intelligence. Malliet doesn't sweat the details, as shown by her having Augusta state simultaneously that her debut book went virtually unnoticed--and was reviewed by the New York Times. This talented author is capable of better. Agent: Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group. (July)
Kirkus Review
A seasoned mystery writer investigates a real-life disappearance in her Northern Virginia neighborhood. Even in an upscale neighborhood like Old Town, Zora and Niko Norman stood out, he as a highly successful family attorney specializing in parental abductions, she as an impossibly beautiful new mother. One day they're both gone without a trace, leaving behind only their splashy house and their baby son, Harry, who's safely in the custody of Zora's mother, gallery owner Genevieve Garnier. Since Detective Steve Narduzzi seems to be getting nowhere, the Normans' neighbor Augusta Hawke decides to ask questions of a few people. And not just any people. In short order, she's learned that the Garniers, moved by suspicions and antipathy, hired private eye Kent Haworth to look into Niko's background even before the marriage; she's disguised herself as a potential divorcée to interview Niko's colleague Mindy Goodacre; and she's gone looking for Trixie Steppes, the babysitter the Normans shared with another family, who seems to have vanished herself. It's an excruciatingly familiar gambit, but veteran Malliet handles it with aplomb until the very end, dispensing with most of the suspects in a few sentences each, as if they didn't bear much attention, to ground Augusta's investigations in realistic-seeming rhythms, inducements, problems, and reasonable but unheeded warnings from Detective Narduzzi--until the climactic episode suddenly turns her into a damsel in distress whose behavior, as she acknowledges, is "like something out of a bad mystery novel." A flawed but mostly superior example of the nosy-neighbor-investigates subgenre. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
During the pandemic, mystery writer Augusta Hawke, whose townhouse faces the backs of five other townhouses, sits at her computer for hours, tracking the comings-and-goings and interactions of the people across the way, á la Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window. Augusta is especially interested in one couple, a fairly good-looking man with an absolute stunner of a wife. One day, the couple vanishes; a visit from the police confirms that they didn't just move but disappeared, leaving their baby behind. Augusta decides to research the disappearance of the couple as she would one of her own novels. Augusta is an engaging narrator, letting the reader in on the realities of being a bestselling author and the vagaries of the publishing world, chatting about any number of topics. At some point, though, readers may feel as if they're trapped in lockdown with a compulsive talker. This could use a little more believability, but it's a fun read all the same, making the most of the Rear Window connection.
Library Journal Review
The protagonist of Malliet's series launch, mystery writer Augusta Hawke, narrates this account of her involvement in the case of her missing neighbors, and her narration begins the same way it will proceed--easily sidetracked. Augusta tends to stare out the window while plotting out her successful mystery series (starring French detectives Claude and Caroline), but it isn't until the police show up outside her home one day that she realizes she hasn't seen her next-door neighbors for a week, though she heard the married couple arguing occasionally. Seeking to learn why the neighbors disappeared without their baby, Augusta puts together a small investigative team--herself, a neighbor, and a PI who's also a true-crime writer--despite the best efforts of the police to keep Augusta out of the case. She'll need all the skills of her novels' protagonists to solve the real-life mystery. VERDICT The author of the award-winning "DCI St. Just" and "Rev. Max Tudor" series launches another with a mystery writer at the center, but the slow-paced story rambles at times and lacks the humor of the St. Just novels. Fans will be better served by Malliet's previous titles.--Lesa Holstine
