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'missing, presumed' brings the police procedural to life.

Bethanne Patrick

Missing, Presumed

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If you've binge-watched Happy Valley, The Fall or Prime Suspect , have I got a book for you: Former journalist Susie Steiner's Missing, Presumed offers a close view of diverse British characters coming to terms with both a murder and their own imperfect lives. You might come to Missing, Presumed for the police procedural; you'll stay for the layered, authentic characters that Steiner brings to life.

Steiner's contribution to what might be called "cozy noir" involves a dual lens. One perspective belongs to Detective Sergeant Manon Bradshaw of the Cambridgeshire Major Incident Team, who is staring middle age in the face without having found a partner, a family, or contentment. The other belongs to Miriam Hind, mother of the title's missing graduate student, Edith. Manon and Miriam, in different social classes, professions and locations, might seem to have little in common, but it's Steiner's reporting experience that pulls their lives together and shows how women lose in a malecentric society.

But, but, Steiner says — men lose, too. More on that in a moment. The author even has her victim Edith Hind writing a dissertation on the fight against patriarchy in Victorian literature. When Edith disappears from her Huntingdon apartment (glass, blood, coat left behind), her father, Sir Ian, physician to royals and windbag to all, makes a good deal of noise, so much that Manon is summoned from hard-won rest to the scene of the crime.

Poor Manon; she cadges a monitor from her department just so its constant noise can lull her to sleep after one of her series of horrible one-night stands. Still, she rouses her team to action, and this is when her colleague Davy comes up against the patriarchy himself: He can't square his good-versus-evil ideals with the reality of an investigation uncovering very messy, dark motivations. There are two possible perpetrators, and neither prospect makes things easy for Davy or Manon. When a second murder occurs, this time of a young black man, matters get even messier.

It's at this point that I grew a little weary of the business-as-usual business, in which the superintendent barks from on high, the desk sergeants inhale fast food, and the "responsible" ones like Manon find their personal lives intruding on their professional responsibilities. All of these are necessary and true elements of a police procedural, and Steiner does a better job than many at incorporating them. Still, I hope that her next Manon Bradshaw book will be more inventive, this one having set the realistic scene.

But back to the mystery at hand. The contrast between single-and-hating-it Manon and married-and-miserable Miriam works, especially as the riddle of Edith's disappearance comes closer to being solved. This is the point at which almost every review of this novel ends, the reviewer saying something like "Steiner brings things to a satisfying conclusion." Understandable — no critic wants to provide spoilers.

However, that means less attention is paid to the endings of mystery novels, and that isn't right. Too many novels of all genres wind up getting a pass on their endings these days, rushed and incomplete and thoughtless endings. While I won't give spoilers, I can't gloss over the thoughtful, well-paced conclusion that Steiner gives to "Missing, Presumed," because it's weirdly audacious. The voices of women take center stage, and all of them achieve some kind of peace. Miriam's conclusions, in particular, might seem surprising — until the reader thinks back and realizes that they are entirely in keeping with her character.

That's what matters to Steiner — character. It's more than enough to make this book matter to readers, even if it occasionally gets bogged down in ticking off boxes like "Tense conversation in police car" and "Use the phrase 'cast-iron alibi.' " Most of the time, the author provides more delicate insights involving Miriam's notes to herself to buy supplies for a country house, or Manon's nervous anxiety when a new date is about to see her ancient Citroën. It's as if she's elbowing readers and saying, "Nudge nudge, wink wink; we all know I have to provide the caffeine-soaked incident room; follow me this way to the good stuff."

Bethanne Patrick is a freelance writer and critic who tweets @TheBookMaven .

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By Alida Becker

• July 27, 2016

MISSING, PRESUMED By Susie Steiner 350 pp. Random House. $27.

For a young woman devoted to simplicity and purity, who aims to “live truthfully,” Edith Hind has managed to create a great deal of chaos and confusion. The missing person — no, make that “high-risk missing person” — who provides the title for Susie Steiner’s smart, stylish second novel is (or was?) a Cambridge postgraduate student, possessed of good looks, a handsome live-in lover, devoted friends, admiring professors and doting, well-­connected parents. But when she disappears, in mid-­December of 2010, the simplicity of the evidence (an open door; two wine glasses in the kitchen, one broken and edged with blood; keys, phone, passport and electric car all left behind) yields an investigation full of contradictions. And when a body is found floating in a nearby river, the case is only further complicated.

These may sound like the elements of a traditional detective novel. Especially since Steiner also gives us a traditionally flawed sleuth, Detective Sergeant Manon (“a Marmite name, you either loved it or loathed it”) Bradshaw, her solitary life as disheveled as her hair, her sardonic perspective not quite camouflaging her intense need, at almost 40, to have personal connections that are as solid as those she has to her job with the Major Incident Team of the Cambridge police. In other words, she’s a kindred spirit to Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison of “Prime Suspect” and, if only she’d take off for a weekend in Oxford, the perfect date for the similarly reclusive D.S. Hathaway of “Inspector Lewis.” And yet, although we’ve seen this sort of profile before, even down to the possible substitution of maternity for matrimony, Manon is portrayed with an irresistible blend of sympathy and snark. By the time she hits bottom, professionally and privately, we’re entirely caught up in her story.

That’s partly because the story of what happened to Edith, slowly revealed through tantalizing, frustrating clues, is overshadowed by the stories of the people who’ve been left behind. Shifting her narrative’s point of view, Steiner moves back and forth between Manon and one of her younger colleagues; Edith’s emotionally fragile best friend; and Edith’s mother, Lady Miriam Hind, a warm and insightful woman, not nearly as grand as her title (provided by Sir Ian, her royal surgeon husband) would suggest. In some ways, Miriam is the true heroine of “Missing, Presumed,” and her observations are among the most affecting in a novel that ends up being as much about loneliness and longing as it is about the solving of a crime. “The strain is widening between them,” she notes of her husband as the days of waiting stretch on and hope dwindles. “Ian’s answer to helplessness is criticism, and she is its focus, implied in all his Rushing About Being Important. . . . There is no place else to go except toward blame, as if into the arms of a lover.” It’s hardly any consolation to conclude that “it was everyone’s fault because it was no one’s.”

But the mystery can’t remain unsolved. Does the key to it lie with a dodgy academic? With a hardened criminal recently released from jail? Is Edith’s best friend hiding something? Is Edith’s gorgeous but exceedingly dull boyfriend? Has Edith’s socially responsible, sometimes irritatingly noble life actually been far from perfect? “Dangerous people seldom broadcast their peccadilloes,” Manon reflects, in the midst of an unsuccessful interview. “It’s not the creepy bloke in a stained mac; it’s the jolly fellow who chats to you in the queue.” The resolution of this particular case doesn’t involve blokes in macs or chatty mates, and it strains a bit at credulity. But, frankly, by this point it’s the ensemble cast gathered around Manon Bradshaw that’s entirely convincing. With luck, we’ll be seeing more of them in future.

Alida Becker is an editor at the Book Review.

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Missing, Presumed review – lonely detective seeks EM Forster fan…

Susie Steiner’s second novel rises above more two-dimensional crime fiction by focusing on the little details that bring characters to life

S usie Steiner has a real knack, sometimes missing in police procedurals, for shading in the throwaway details about a character that turn them from two-dimensional into three. Whether it’s her police protagonist, DS Manon Bradshaw, a single 39-year-old who listens to her police radio to help drown out the loneliness while she goes to sleep, or the story’s victim, 24-year-old Edith Hind, an earnest Cambridge postgrad whose PhD is on the fight against the patriarchy in Victorian literature, she breathes life into them all.

Missing, Presumed , Steiner’s second novel after the more literary Homecoming , is told from differing perspectives, all jigsawing together to make a whole. Manon scrambles out of bed after another disappointing one-night stand (he talks about newts and splits the bill to the last penny), and rushes to the scene when she hears about a missing female in Huntingdon. It’s the case she’s been waiting for. Miriam, scraping out the remains of monkfish stew from her Le Creuset in Hampstead, is pondering the aloneness of married life when she and her husband learn their daughter Edith is missing.

There’s a broken glass and blood, the door left open, Edith’s coat abandoned, in the Huntingdon home she shares with her boyfriend. She hasn’t been seen since she was dropped home by a friend the night before. The search begins; “the first 72 hours are critical for a high-risk missing person. You find them or you look for a body.” But time ebbs away, and the Cambridgeshire police – desperate to stay on top of things after “the mayhem of Soham” – aren’t digging anything up, despite strong-arming from Edith’s father, Sir Ian Hind, an eminent surgeon who’s friends with the home secretary.

“Detective, we are not that sort of family. I’m sure you deal all the time with people whose lives are chaotic, who drink and brawl and abuse one another. But none of us – these things are not part of our lives, our experience.”

Missing, Presumed is not lacking in urgency; Steiner, a former Guardian journalist, paints well the claustrophobically dangerous effect a circling press can have, the horror of a hunt for a missing person that is going nowhere. Miriam, ineffective and desperate, “wanted to lift her face to the sky and let out a wail because she didn’t know what to do. The world is tipping, vertiginous, her organs plummeting away. Fear is so physical.”

But where Steiner excels is in the depth and clarity with which she depicts her characters. Manon is sad and lonely, estranged from her sister and something of a misanthrope. But she’s also funny and clever, and interesting. Going to watch a Swedish film at the cinema, alone, she muses: “The Swedes are a nation who appreciate morbidity, unlike the British, who are just as depressed as everyone else but who like to project their darker feelings, saying to people in the street, ‘Cheer up, it might never happen!’ Cat calls like that make her want to take out her Taser.” I defy you not to fall for her.

Edith, too, although the book is about her absence, is summoned to beautiful, irritatingly pretentious life, the kind of person who makes bunting from recycled copies of the FT and posts pictures of it on Facebook (“Happy Christmas, planet!”), and when at school, was part of a group known as the EMFs, “because they read everything by EM Forster and discussed it at length in cafes on Finchley Road, drinking lemon tea and smoking cigarettes”.

But it’s not only her major characters who Steiner fleshes out. There’s Manon’s colleague Davy, who loves a bit of police jargon – he says things like the suspect “‘has made good his escape’ with his ‘ill-gotten gains’” because he feels it “clarifies the lines drawn between good and evil”. Or her boss, Stanton, who’s partial to management-speak after time with the NYPD and asks to “sunset that line of investigation” and “put [an alibi] on the radiator to see if it melts”.

It all adds up to a world that feels much bigger than the novel in which it is contained; a grimy and depressing one where people do bad things, but one that is entirely believable. Here’s hoping there’ll be more to come from DS Manon Bradshaw.

Susie Steiner is taking part in a Guardian Masterclass on writing crime fiction on 22 February in London. Click here for more information . Missing, Presumed is published by Harper Collins (£12.99). Click here to order a copy for £10.39

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MISSING, PRESUMED

by Susie Steiner ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 28, 2016

Hopefully, this is just the first adventure of many Steiner will write for DS Bradshaw and her team.

A new and complex police heroine tries to solve a high-profile missing persons case while seeking domestic fulfillment in Cambridge.

Thirty-nine and single, DS Manon Bradshaw is feeling the burn of loneliness. As she pursues dead-end date after dead-end date, her personal life seems a complete disaster, but her professional interest and energy are piqued when the beautiful graduate-student daughter of a famous physician goes missing, apparently the victim of foul play. As the investigation into free-spirited Edith Hind’s disappearance uncovers no strong leads, Manon finds herself drawn to two unconventional males: one, a possible romantic partner, plays a tangential role in the investigation when he finds a body; the other, a young boy with a tragic home life, mourns the death of his brother, who also might have ties to Edith or her family. As Manon draws nearer to the truth about Edith, aided by her idealistic partner, Davy, and their team of homicide detectives, she also has to face the fact that she might not be destined to follow the traditional domestic model. Though it follows all the typical twists and turns of a modern police procedural, this novel stands out from the pack in two significant ways: first of all, in the solution, which reflects a sophisticated commentary on today’s news stories about how prejudices about race and privilege play out in our justice system; and second, in the wounded, compassionate, human character of Manon. Her struggles to define love and family at a time when both are open to interpretation make for a highly charismatic and engaging story.

Pub Date: June 28, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-8129-9832-0

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016

LITERARY FICTION | MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE

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THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD

by Claire Lombardo ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2019

Characters flip between bottomless self-regard and pitiless self-loathing while, as late as the second-to-last chapter, yet...

Four Chicago sisters anchor a sharp, sly family story of feminine guile and guilt.

Newcomer Lombardo brews all seven deadly sins into a fun and brimming tale of an unapologetically bougie couple and their unruly daughters. In the opening scene, Liza Sorenson, daughter No. 3, flirts with a groomsman at her sister’s wedding. “There’s four of you?” he asked. “What’s that like?” Her retort: “It’s a vast hormonal hellscape. A marathon of instability and hair products.” Thus begins a story bristling with a particular kind of female intel. When Wendy, the oldest, sets her sights on a mate, she “made sure she left her mark throughout his house—soy milk in the fridge, box of tampons under the sink, surreptitious spritzes of her Bulgari musk on the sheets.” Turbulent Wendy is the novel’s best character, exuding a delectable bratty-ness. The parents—Marilyn, all pluck and busy optimism, and David, a genial family doctor—strike their offspring as impossibly happy. Lombardo levels this vision by interspersing chapters of the Sorenson parents’ early lean times with chapters about their daughters’ wobbly forays into adulthood. The central story unfurls over a single event-choked year, begun by Wendy, who unlatches a closed adoption and springs on her family the boy her stuffy married sister, Violet, gave away 15 years earlier. (The sisters improbably kept David and Marilyn clueless with a phony study-abroad scheme.) Into this churn, Lombardo adds cancer, infidelity, a heart attack, another unplanned pregnancy, a stillbirth, and an office crush for David. Meanwhile, youngest daughter Grace perpetrates a whopper, and “every day the lie was growing like mold, furring her judgment.” The writing here is silky, if occasionally overwrought. Still, the deft touches—a neighborhood fundraiser for a Little Free Library, a Twilight character as erotic touchstone—delight. The class calibrations are divine even as the utter apolitical whiteness of the Sorenson world becomes hard to fathom.

Pub Date: June 25, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-385-54425-2

Page Count: 544

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: March 3, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019

LITERARY FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP

SEEN & HEARD

A CONSPIRACY OF BONES

by Kathy Reichs ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020

Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.

Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.

A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice ( The Bone Collection , 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”

Pub Date: March 17, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Scribner

Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020

GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | GENERAL THRILLER & SUSPENSE | MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | SUSPENSE | THRILLER | DETECTIVES & PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS | SUSPENSE | GENERAL & DOMESTIC THRILLER

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Missing, Presumed : Book summary and reviews of Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner

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Missing, Presumed

by Susie Steiner

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Published Jun 2016 368 pages Genre: Mysteries Publication Information

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About this book

Book summary.

For readers of Kate Atkinson and Tana French comes a page-turning literary mystery that brings to life the complex and wholly relatable Manon Bradshaw, a strong-willed detective assigned to a high-risk missing persons case.

At thirty-nine, Manon Bradshaw is a devoted and respected member of the Cambridgeshire police force, and though she loves her job, what she longs for is a personal life. Single and distant from her family, she wants a husband and children of her own. One night, after yet another disastrous Internet date, she turns on her police radio to help herself fall asleep - and receives an alert that sends her to a puzzling crime scene. Edith Hind - a beautiful graduate student at Cambridge University and daughter of the surgeon to the Royal Family - has been missing for nearly twenty-four hours. Her home offers few clues: a smattering of blood in the kitchen, her keys and phone left behind, the front door ajar but showing no signs of forced entry. Manon instantly knows that this case will be big - and that every second is crucial to finding Edith alive. The investigation starts with Edith's loved ones: her attentive boyfriend, her reserved best friend, her patrician parents. As the search widens and press coverage reaches a frenzied pitch, secrets begin to emerge about Edith's tangled love life and her erratic behavior leading up to her disappearance. With no clear leads, Manon summons every last bit of her skill and intuition to close the case, and what she discovers will have shocking consequences not just for Edith's family but for Manon herself. Suspenseful and keenly observed, Missing, Presumed is a brilliantly twisting novel of how we seek connection, grant forgiveness, and reveal the truth about who we are.

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"Starred Review. A highly charismatic and engaging story ... This novel stands out from the pack." - Kirkus "A vein of dark humor pulses beneath this compelling whodunit with an appealing, complicated heroine at its center." - Publishers Weekly "This combination of police procedural and an unfolding family drama that continuously twists and turns will work well for fans of Kate Atkinson and Tana French." - Booklist "Where Steiner excels is in the depth and clarity with which she depicts her characters. ... It all adds up to a world that feels much bigger than the novel in which it is contained." - The Guardian (UK) "Detective Sergeant Manon Bradshaw is appealing, multifaceted, and unforgettable. She charges through Missing, Presumed with twin goals - to find the body, and to find durable love. The resolution of this gripping novel astonishes, and leaves a long afterglow." - Amity Gaige, author of Schroder "Manon Bradshaw is a messed-up, big-hearted detective in the best tradition."- Harriet Lane, author of Her "Gripping, authentic, funny, and moving, Missing, Presumed hits the sweet spot between literary and crime fiction." - Erin Kelly, author of Broadchurch " Missing, Presumed is a gripping, suspenseful, gratifyingly unpredictable detective novel, with enough plot twists to satisfy fans of the genre." - Maggie Mitchell, author of Pretty Is "Within a chapter, DS Manon Bradshaw announces herself as a detective to follow through books and books to come." - Lucie Whitehouse, author of Before We Met "Complex, gripping ... a page-turning literary crime novel." - Suzanne Rindell, author of The Other Typist

Author Information

Susie steiner.

Susie Steiner is a former Guardian journalist. She was a commissioning editor for that paper for eleven years and prior to that worked for The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and the Evening Standard. She lives in London with her husband and two children.

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“Missing, Presumed” by Susie Steiner – Book Review

“This combination of police procedural and an unfolding family drama that continuously twists and turns will work well for fans of Kate Atkinson and Tana French.” —Booklist

I couldn’t agree more!

What a pleasant surprise this crime novel turned out to be.  Fortunately I’ve read many good books this year so far – and this one reminded me how much I enjoy a well-rendered, character-driven police procedural.

As one would expect, the novel is centered around a missing persons case.  When weeks go by without sign of the missing woman it is presumed she is the victim of a homicide.  Told by various persons and points of view, the story gives a well-rounded account of the case.

And the police… I LOVED the police in this one!  Central to the story is single, thirty-nine year old Manon Bradshaw.  I loved the bones of her.  So human, so flawed, yet all the more likable because of it.  She is a Detective Sergeant on the Major Incident Team for the Cambridgeshire Police.  Manon is oh – SO – very – lonely.  Driven by work, she feels as though life is passing her by and her biological clock is ticking louder every day.  She has tried Internet dating with some astounding failures.  Generally dissatisfied with life, and acting increasingly desperate, she fears a ‘relationship’ is just not on the cards for her…

Manon lost her mother when she was just fourteen years old, so she and her sister were raised by her father.  When he remarried, Manon has distanced herself from him and his new wife.  When her sister accepts this new woman, Manon considers this as a betrayal and thus she is estranged from her sister as well. With no family directly a part of her life, her loneliness has driven her to leave her police radio on at night in order to fall asleep…

And then there is Police Constable Davy Walker, Manon’s junior.  Davy’s cup is always half full and he is in a committed relationship.  As such he is a perfect foil for the pessimistic and solitary Manon whom he thinks very highly of.  Davy spends his free hours at a youth center with the foster children who abide there.

Also there is Manon and Davy’s boss, Detective Inspector Harriet Harper.  Harriet reminded me a little of the character of Gill in Scott & Bailey.  In fact the whole book reminded me of Scott & Bailey  (with Manon Bradshaw instead of Rachel Bailey).

The missing woman, Edith Hand, is a Cambridge University student and the daughter of two esteemed physicians.  When she is reported missing the case is given ‘high’ priority due to her family’s lofty connections.  Her apartment in Huntington has yielded traces of blood and some things in disarray leading the police to fear the worst.  As the case drags on into weeks, Edith’s life is inspected with a fine tooth comb, and like many she has some salacious secrets she would rather not broadcast publicly.  But in a case like this privacy is not something the police can afford to grant.  With little to go on there are few persons of interest and those include Edith’s ultra-handsome boyfriend and her best friend, Helena.

Various chapters are told from the point of view of Edith’s mother, Miriam Hand.  A physician herself, she still lives in the shadow of her more famous husband, Sir Ian Hand, physician to the royal family.  The disappearance of her beloved daughter and its affect on her is at times, heartbreakingly rendered.

The action of the novel takes place in the weeks leading up to and following Christmas.  A time of year that sometimes creates unbearable stresses for both the lonely and those surrounded by family.  Also, it is a time of year when police staffing is skeletal due to many having saved their vacation leave for the festive season.  Due to this skeletal staffing issue, Manon and her team are given another case in addition to Edith Hand’s disappearance. The body of a young mixed-race teenager has been found floating in the nearby river.  It is through this case that Manon meets this boy’s younger brother who will come to have a huge impact on Manon’s own life.

“ Missing, Presumed ” is a novel about the myriad permutations of ‘family’.  A book about parenthood, loneliness, desperation, and shame. Part crime/mystery novel, part psychological study, the book fairly screams for a sequel and the author has stated that another novel featuring Manon Bradshaw is in the works.

Sincere thanks to Random House via NetGalley for provided me with a digital e-galley of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Susie Steiner is a former Guardian journalist. She was a commissioning editor for that paper for eleven years and prior to that worked for The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and the Evening Standard. “Missing, Presumed” is her second novel.  She lives in London with her husband and two sons.

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Was it confusing that the author threw in another murder? It almost sounds tacked on!

No, it really wasn’t confusing at all. That case was not gone into deeply in the novel though it did tie in to the overall plot.

Like Liked by 1 person

Another great review about an author I am not familiar with ( as yet), but you certainly appear to have loved this book. I also love police procedurals that are combined with other elements, and this book features that, as well. This is going on my TBR list and in B and N’s shopping cart.

Sure hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 😊

I already had it on my TBR and it is only in hardback at Barnes and Noble. I have to wait a bit. 🙂

Wow, excellent review 😀 Everybody keeps talking about this one!

Yes it is SO great when you are unfamiliar with an author and their book ‘blows you away’. I will be avidly waiting for the sequel.

Fantastic review, Lynne. 5 stars from me too. Can’t wait for book 2!

Glad you loved it too Christine! We’ll be first in line for the sequel!

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Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, missing, presumed.

• About the Book

At 39, Manon Bradshaw is a devoted and respected member of the Cambridgeshire police force, and though she loves her job, what she longs for is a personal life. Single and distant from her family, she wants a husband and children of her own. One night, after yet another disastrous Internet date, she turns on her police radio to help herself fall asleep --- and receives an alert that sends her to a puzzling crime scene.

Edith Hind --- a beautiful graduate student at Cambridge University and daughter of the surgeon to the Royal Family --- has been missing for nearly 24 hours. Her home offers few clues: a smattering of blood in the kitchen, her keys and phone left behind, the front door ajar but showing no signs of forced entry. Manon instantly knows that this case will be big --- and that every second is crucial to finding Edith alive.

The investigation starts with Edith’s loved ones: her attentive boyfriend, her reserved best friend, her patrician parents. As the search widens and press coverage reaches a frenzied pitch, secrets begin to emerge about Edith’s tangled love life and her erratic behavior leading up to her disappearance. With no clear leads, Manon summons every last bit of her skill and intuition to close the case, and what she discovers will have shocking consequences not just for Edith’s family but for Manon herself.

Suspenseful and keenly observed, MISSING, PRESUMED is a brilliantly twisting novel of how we seek connection, grant forgiveness and reveal the truth about who we are.

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner

• Publication Date: February 7, 2017
• Genres: Fiction , Literary , Mystery
• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
• ISBN-10: 0812987748
• ISBN-13: 9780812987744

Missing, Presumed

• 3.9 • 348 Ratings

Publisher Description

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • A page-turning mystery that brings to life a complex and strong-willed detective assigned to a high-risk missing persons case NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR •  NAMED ONE OF THE 10 BEST MYSTERIES OF THE YEAR BY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL “An extraordinarily assured police procedural in the tradition of Ruth Rendell and Elizabeth George.” —Joseph Finder, author of The Fixer “Surprise-filled . . . one of the most ambitious police procedurals of the year. Detective Bradshaw’s biting wit is a bonus.” — The Wall Street Journal “ Missing, Presumed has future BBC miniseries written all over it.” — Redbook “A highly charismatic and engaging story.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “This combination of police procedural and an unfolding family drama that continuously twists and turns will work well for fans of Kate Atkinson and Tana French.” — Booklist At thirty-nine, Manon Bradshaw is a devoted and respected member of the Cambridgeshire police force, and though she loves her job, what she longs for is a personal life. Single and distant from her family, she wants a husband and children of her own. One night, after yet another disastrous Internet date, she turns on her police radio to help herself fall asleep—and receives an alert that sends her to a puzzling crime scene. Edith Hind—a beautiful graduate student at Cambridge University and daughter of the surgeon to the Royal Family—has been missing for nearly twenty-four hours. Her home offers few clues: a smattering of blood in the kitchen, her keys and phone left behind, the front door ajar but showing no signs of forced entry. Manon instantly knows that this case will be big—and that every second is crucial to finding Edith alive. The investigation starts with Edith’s loved ones: her attentive boyfriend, her reserved best friend, her patrician parents. As the search widens and press coverage reaches a frenzied pitch, secrets begin to emerge about Edith’s tangled love life and her erratic behavior leading up to her disappearance. With no clear leads, Manon summons every last bit of her skill and intuition to close the case, and what she discovers will have shocking consequences not just for Edith’s family but for Manon herself. Suspenseful and keenly observed, Missing, Presumed is a brilliantly twisting novel of how we seek connection, grant forgiveness, and reveal the truth about who we are. Praise for Missing, Presumed “Smart, stylish . . . Manon is portrayed with an irresistible blend of sympathy and snark. By the time she hits bottom, professionally and privately, we’re entirely caught up in her story.” — The New York Times Book Review “Nuanced suspense that’s perfect for Kate Atkinson fans.” — People “Drenched in character and setting, with pinpoint detail that breathes life and color into every sentence.” — The News & Observer “You might come to  Missing, Presumed  for the police procedural; you’ll stay for the layered, authentic characters that Steiner brings to life.” —Bethanne Patrick, NPR “Where [Susie] Steiner excels is in the depth and clarity with which she depicts her characters. . . . It all adds up to a world that feels much bigger than the novel in which it is contained.” — The Guardian

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY MAR 21, 2016

In this richly plotted police procedural from British author Steiner (Homecoming), Edith Hind, a 24-year-old Cambridge graduate student, goes missing, leaving behind only a smear of blood and signs of a struggle at the flat she shares with her boyfriend. The pressure is on Det. Sgt. Manon Bradshaw, who excels at her job but has suffered a string of dreary Internet dates, and the rest of the Cambridgeshire Major Incident Team, since Edith's father is Sir Ian Hind, physician to the royal family. Steiner slips smoothly among narrators, shifting from Manon's ever-widening investigation to characters who are directly affected by Edith's disappearance. As leads dry up and days missing increase, every scrap of case information is fodder for the press, who pounce on the more salacious aspects of Edith's personal life, even as Manon and the team discover that the answers might be linked to something much more serious. A vein of dark humor pulses beneath this compelling whodunit with an appealing, complicated heroine at its center.

Customer Reviews

Page turner.

Great read and keeps you guessing as to the outcome!

Missing Presumed

This novel has layers and excellent characterization of those in the story. It begins like a who dun it and then spirals. A very good read.

Excellent yesteryear.

I bet this is the best mystery I read this year. Things in satisfactorily, but not everything is wrapped up. Change happens at the pace of life even if some events are extraordinary. The writing is a cut or two above and pleasing. The characters are well drawn and complicated in a way that rings true for real people, notContrived tortured souls

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Missing, Presumed

Susie Steiner

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016

Missing, Presumed

By Susie Steiner

really enjoyed this book - well developed and credible characters with great plot line. Using multiple narrators really worked in deepening understanding of the individuals and didn't feel confusing at all dude to the sequencing. Not heavy but intelligently written with strong factual basis around procedures and protocols.Would recommend

We read this book at the same time as Missing Presumed so this review is exactly the same for both as we discussion them together and i cannot for the life of me split my notes down.

Two member of the book club didn't manage to finish the two books in one month. Some people did find them hard to get into due to the writing style.

We did feel that the books were more like writing exercises rather than fully fleshed out books. They felt a little unrealistic and some of the characters were a little flat.

We all felt that Manon was a very needy person and that she would be a person who would drain you if she was in your life. She did seem to need a lot from everyone in her life and didn't seem to give that much in return. Her character really changed a lot between the two books and we weren't sure this was entirely realistic.

Overall we gave this book 5 out of 10.

This is a very good crime novel with a quirky lead female detective. In my head I picture a Vera type detective--prickily, no nonsense, human with her own myriad of problems. Very much a loner she stumbles across a young boy and develops a relationship that is odd and detached but caring in the beginning. The crime she investigates is that of a missing person whose story is told through the vantage point of the characters.Each chapter is told by one character and then the next chapter is another character's slant of the event with a few new issues added. It is a bit disconcerting at first but very effective. I had trouble putting this book down. I wanted to read just that next page or chapter or another chapter until I knew the solution. I recommend this to almost anyone.

GrangeBookmarks

Crime fiction. I struggled through the first 20 pages. After that, strong style and characters fell into place. The interest and suspense increased as people come to life. The crime investigation is well documented and rings true. An enjoyable book which I would recommend.

It’s a tried and tested genre, the crime novels so hard to create a new angle but DS Manon Bradshaw is someone a bit different. Like most cops portrayed in novels and films, her private life is a complete mess but her well-developed characterisation reveals the sheer desperation of her situation. It is clear her disenchantment with computer dating leads her to over-react when a ‘natural’ opportunity enters the scene. As for the plot, it does not suffer from the contrived convolutions of an Agatha Christie, but is perhaps a little too straightforward. We are given few blind alleys to travel but the ending is perhaps more plausible than many. Once I’d got into, it was hard to put down and that’s as good a recommendation as the book needs

Bookmarkercumbria

MB from Bookmarks Reading Group

I read a lot of crime fiction and found this a gripping read. The fact that it really was a missing person case was quite unique and the tension really built up as Edith was missing first for 48 hours, then a week and then more than a week. I liked the way little discoveries led to some major surprises and un-anticipated connections with Edith's family. I liked the way the story unfolded from different points of view and the realistic way the press and media can affect investigations. I liked the main detective character- Manon- and have already started reading the next in the series. Hoping for many more.

Edith Hind has gone missing. She is a young woman from a well-to-do family who lives with her boyfriend. Her father is a prominent physician with connections in the higher echelons of society, creating a huge headache for the police who are desperately trying to ascertain whether she is alive or dead. Each chapter is written from the point of view of one of the main characters as the search continues.

This is a well written police procedural. What makes it stand out is that it is more character-driven than crime-driven. The characters are extremely well developed. Manon, probably the most prominent voice in the narrative, is particularly strong. Lots of information is given about both her private life and her thought processes and this really made her come alive as a person. The plot is good and suitably fast-paced, despite the focus on people and personalities.

From my point of view there are a couple of minor issues but, I would stress that they did not detract from my enjoyment of the book at all. On the subject of character development I found that I didn’t have a clear visual picture of the characters in my head, despite feeling that I knew them well as friends. I can only assume this is because the physical descriptions were sparse, although it may well have been my visualisation ability which was at fault! Also, the plot could have been more complex with more twists and turns but this may well have detracted from the character-centric nature of the narrative.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I loved the characters. The author is definitely one that I will be looking out for in the future and I am pleased to say that Manon appears to be the lead character in a mini-series (hopefully soon to be a full-blown series), of which this was the first.

St Regulus AJ

The first of a proposed series of detective thrillers starring DS Manon. Her adopted son Fly makes his initial appearance and hopefully he will feature in further books as he grows to maturity. The possibilities for the direction of this series of novels is great and I look forward to how the author handles the subjects. This book is a great start. Twists and turns abound and the characters are well drawn. Will keep readers guessing, which is as it should be in a thriller.

There were plenty of surprises and the author kept me interested and involved. I enjoyed this book and can recommend it to readers who enjoy Crime Fiction. It's a complex story with a large number of characters - but not too many to make it difficult - who are well drawn with a variety of back stories and appear ‘real’. The story is written in the first person, by each character, so you see everyone's point of view of the plot. The story is driven by the powerfully developed characters that keep it so engrossing. DS Manon Bradshaw is at the centre of the novel - flawed and often annoying, but a powerful force. Can't wait to read her new book 'Persons Unknown'.

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Missing Presumed Paperback – Import, January 1, 1900

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Book 1 of 3 Manon Bradshaw
• Language English
• Publisher HARPER COLLINS
• Publication date January 1, 1900
• Dimensions 5.08 x 1.08 x 7.8 inches
• ISBN-10 0008123322
• ISBN-13 978-0008123321
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Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HARPER COLLINS (January 1, 1900)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0008123322
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0008123321
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.08 x 1.08 x 7.8 inches
• Best Sellers Rank: #1,841,554 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books )

About the author

Susie steiner.

I'm the author of three novels and have just finished my fourth - yes, Manon Bradshaw will be back in 2020.

My second novel, a literary crime novel called Missing, Presumed was chosen for Richard & Judy's book club and was one of 2016's bestsellers. It has, to date, sold more than 250,000 copies and won a Nielsen silver bestseller award. It was shortlisted for the Theakston's crime novel of the year, picked by the Wall Street Journal for its top ten mysteries of the year, and was selected as a Guardian book of the year by Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent. Missing, Presumed introduces detective Manon Bradshaw, who returns in the sequel, Sunday Times bestseller Persons Unknown. This novel was also shortlisted for crime novel of the year by Theakstons. The third in the Manon Bradshaw series is on its way.

My first novel, Homecoming, is a family saga set on a sheep farm in north Yorkshire and is not a crime novel.

Before writing novels, I was a Guardian journalist. I was a journalist for 20 years and on the Guardian's staff for more than ten years. I grew up in London and studied English at uni. I live in London with my husband and two children.

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Grandma, 3 Others Arrested For Murder of Missing Kansas Moms

Police said they found two bodies that may have belonged to the missing mothers Sunday.

Breaking News Intern

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation

Four arrests have been made in the disappearance of two Kansas moms—with the grandmother of one of the women’s kids charged in connection with their murders , the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced Saturday.

Tifany Machel Adams, 54—the grandmother of missing woman Veronica Butler’s children—was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder, two counts of kidnapping , and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree on Saturday. Her boyfriend, Tad Bert Cullum, and two of her friends, Cora and Cole Earl Twombly, were also arrested on the same charges.

Butler, 27, disappeared last month while trying to pick up her kids with her acquaintance Jilian Kelley, 39. At the time of her and Kelley’s disappearance, they were en route to Eva, Oklahoma, where her children may have been staying.

Butler was involved in an ugly custody battle with the father of her children that grew heated not long before the two moms disappeared. Ten days before she vanished, Butler had filed for more visitation rights and was seeking full custody of her kids.

Police said they found two bodies that may have belonged to Butler and Kelley Sunday, according to an update posted to the OSBI Facebook page.

“Both individuals will be transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine identification, as well as cause and manner of death,” the post read. “This is still an ongoing investigation.”

Authorities located the pair’s abandoned vehicle weeks ago and “determined there was evidence to indicate foul play,” the OSBI said in their initial statement.

Sources told NewsNation there were “pools of blood” on the ground near the place the abandoned car was found, as well as bloodstains inside the car, though law enforcement haven’t confirmed this.

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