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Elise King #1
Local Gone Missing
Detective Elise King investigates a man’s disappearance in a seaside town where the locals and weekenders are at odds with each other in this suspenseful new novel from the #1 bestselling author of The Widow.
Elise King is a successful and ambitious detective—or she was before a medical leave left her unsure if she'd ever return to work. She now spends most days watching the growing tensions in her small seaside town of Ebbing—the weekenders renovating old bungalows into luxury homes, and the locals resentful of the changes.
Elise can only guess what really happens behind closed doors. But Dee Eastwood, her house cleaner, often knows. She’s an invisible presence in many of the houses in town, but she sees and hears everything.
The conflicts boil over when a newcomer wants to put the town on the map with a giant music festival, and two teenagers overdose on drugs. When a man disappears the first night of the festival, Elise is drawn back into her detective work and starts digging for answers. Ebbing is a small town, but it's full of secrets and hidden connections that run deeper and darker than Elise could have ever imagined.
Elise King is a successful and ambitious detective—or she was before a medical leave left her unsure if she'd ever return to work. She now spends most days watching the growing tensions in her small seaside town of Ebbing—the weekenders renovating old bungalows into luxury homes, and the locals resentful of the changes.
Elise can only guess what really happens behind closed doors. But Dee Eastwood, her house cleaner, often knows. She’s an invisible presence in many of the houses in town, but she sees and hears everything.
The conflicts boil over when a newcomer wants to put the town on the map with a giant music festival, and two teenagers overdose on drugs. When a man disappears the first night of the festival, Elise is drawn back into her detective work and starts digging for answers. Ebbing is a small town, but it's full of secrets and hidden connections that run deeper and darker than Elise could have ever imagined.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 14, 2022
885 people are currently reading
22.7k people want to read
About the author
Fiona Barton
9books4,070followersMy career has taken some surprising twists and turns over the years. I have been a journalist - senior writer at the Daily Mail, news editor at the Daily Telegraph, and chief reporter at The Mail on Sunday, where I won Reporter of the Year at the National Press Awards, gave up my job to volunteer in Sri Lanka and since 2008, have trained and worked with exiled and threatened journalists all over the world.
But through it all, a story was cooking in my head.
The worm of this book infected me long ago when, as a national newspaper journalist covering notorious crimes and trials, I found myself wondering what the wives of those accused really knew � or allowed themselves to know.
It took the liberation of my career change to turn that fascination into a tale of a missing child, narrated by the wife of the man suspected of the crime, the detective leading the hunt, the journalist covering the case and the mother of the victim.
Much to my astonishment and delight, The Widow is available now in the UK, and around the world in the coming months.
However, the sudden silence of my characters feels like a reproach and I am currently working on a second book.
My husband and I are living the good life in south-west France, where I am writing in bed, early in the morning when the only distraction is our cockerel, Sparky, crowing.
But through it all, a story was cooking in my head.
The worm of this book infected me long ago when, as a national newspaper journalist covering notorious crimes and trials, I found myself wondering what the wives of those accused really knew � or allowed themselves to know.
It took the liberation of my career change to turn that fascination into a tale of a missing child, narrated by the wife of the man suspected of the crime, the detective leading the hunt, the journalist covering the case and the mother of the victim.
Much to my astonishment and delight, The Widow is available now in the UK, and around the world in the coming months.
However, the sudden silence of my characters feels like a reproach and I am currently working on a second book.
My husband and I are living the good life in south-west France, where I am writing in bed, early in the morning when the only distraction is our cockerel, Sparky, crowing.
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August 4, 2024
Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton
Elise King had been a successful detective until she discovered her breast cancer. Now she's a detective on extended leave, recovering from surgery and dealing with the aftereffects of her cancer treatments, some still ongoing. She desperately wants to go back to work but at the same time she's scared to go back to work. She's struggling with fogginess and problems with her memory, thanks to her treatments. But she so misses her job which she loved.
Ronnie, her next door neighbor, would love to be her partner in solving crime, even if they do it on the sly, just a bit of nosing around, you see. Ronnie is in her 60s and her elusive, to us, husband has his own interests and hobbies and Ronnie has actually become a friend that Elise didn't know she wanted or needed. Not to mention Ronnie is doing such a good job of stirring Elise's detective skills. My favorite parts of the story are when Ronnie is in the picture. She is not some tottering old lady but instead a smart, creative, older woman who can get things done.
There is also Dee, a housecleaner with an out of work plumber husband with a former drug problem. They have a young son, Cal, and if Dee and her husband are good at anything, it seems to be as parents to Cal. Even though Dee was once a neighbor to the people of Ebbing, things have become awkward, now that she cleans their houses in order to make ends meet, with her husband out of work. Dee has become invisible in many ways, as she cleans houses she is ignored, she's given keys, people talk around her as if she isn't there, She knows so much and people don't even realize it.
The story works best when we are with Elise. She may be suffering from her cancer recovery and treatments but she is in her element when she is working a crime and getting to do so may be how she gets her life back. When a man goes missing and the town's festering problems boil over, Elise can't help getting into the fray with her detecting skills and she really shines once her old boss needs her back at work. I hope we get to see Elise (and Ronnie) in another story because I've become very fond of both women.
I do think the story has a big problem though and it took me half the book to just accept it. So many people are introduced into the story and it seems they all have some kind of connection with everything going on. It's like this small, small world, crowded with too much to follow. Ronnie has a white board in her kitchen, with stick pens and string going from one person and event to the other. I tried to have a mental white board and it became one huge jumbled mess because there is too much and too many people to unravel. I had to accept that there was no way I could ever have a chance of figuring out who did what in this story. Still, I enjoyed Elise, Ronnie, and Elise's partner Caro and, fingers crossed, I'll get to see them again in the future.
Pub June 14, 2022
Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC.
Elise King had been a successful detective until she discovered her breast cancer. Now she's a detective on extended leave, recovering from surgery and dealing with the aftereffects of her cancer treatments, some still ongoing. She desperately wants to go back to work but at the same time she's scared to go back to work. She's struggling with fogginess and problems with her memory, thanks to her treatments. But she so misses her job which she loved.
Ronnie, her next door neighbor, would love to be her partner in solving crime, even if they do it on the sly, just a bit of nosing around, you see. Ronnie is in her 60s and her elusive, to us, husband has his own interests and hobbies and Ronnie has actually become a friend that Elise didn't know she wanted or needed. Not to mention Ronnie is doing such a good job of stirring Elise's detective skills. My favorite parts of the story are when Ronnie is in the picture. She is not some tottering old lady but instead a smart, creative, older woman who can get things done.
There is also Dee, a housecleaner with an out of work plumber husband with a former drug problem. They have a young son, Cal, and if Dee and her husband are good at anything, it seems to be as parents to Cal. Even though Dee was once a neighbor to the people of Ebbing, things have become awkward, now that she cleans their houses in order to make ends meet, with her husband out of work. Dee has become invisible in many ways, as she cleans houses she is ignored, she's given keys, people talk around her as if she isn't there, She knows so much and people don't even realize it.
The story works best when we are with Elise. She may be suffering from her cancer recovery and treatments but she is in her element when she is working a crime and getting to do so may be how she gets her life back. When a man goes missing and the town's festering problems boil over, Elise can't help getting into the fray with her detecting skills and she really shines once her old boss needs her back at work. I hope we get to see Elise (and Ronnie) in another story because I've become very fond of both women.
I do think the story has a big problem though and it took me half the book to just accept it. So many people are introduced into the story and it seems they all have some kind of connection with everything going on. It's like this small, small world, crowded with too much to follow. Ronnie has a white board in her kitchen, with stick pens and string going from one person and event to the other. I tried to have a mental white board and it became one huge jumbled mess because there is too much and too many people to unravel. I had to accept that there was no way I could ever have a chance of figuring out who did what in this story. Still, I enjoyed Elise, Ronnie, and Elise's partner Caro and, fingers crossed, I'll get to see them again in the future.
Pub June 14, 2022
Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC.
November 11, 2022
I guess I was expecting something just a little bit different..
The synopsis describes Ebbing as a small, sleepy seaside town, with the weekenders in their fancy clothes, renovating old bungalows into luxury homes, and the locals resentful of the changes. A town, divided.
But, it doesn’t read like a “neighborhood� story where you REALLY get to know the residents from BOTH sides in depth. In fact, we don’t meet many “weekenders� at all.
The synopsis also introduces us to Dee Eastwood, a cleaner who is an invisible presence in the homes, of both-weekenders and locals-privy to what goes on behind closed doors-seeing and hearing all.
But, although she may know-don’t expect this to read as “soapy� or “gossipy� either.
DI Elise King never expected to live in a place like Ebbing. But after a battle with Cancer, and a break-up, she settled here in the seaside town-unsure if she would ever return to work.
Fortunately, her neighbor Ronnie, loves to play “amateur detective� so when a local-the popular Charlie Perry, “goes missing� she recruits Elise to help her “interview� his wife, Pauline.
Nobody believes that Charlie would leave voluntarily as he is very devoted to his daughter, Birdie, who has cognitive challenges and lives in a care home full time. So, Ronnie is keen to figure out who would want to do Charlie harm.
Turns out, Charlie has upset more than one of his neighbors�
Initially the story almost reads like a “COZY� and, I kind of wish it had remained that way, as THIS part was really enjoyable! Ronnie was just the antidote that Elise needed to feel ready to OFFICIALLY “get back to work�.
At about the 50% point, it defines itself as “police procedural�-as Elise does just that.
As we move forward and backward in time, we are introduced to A LOT of characters, only getting to know the bare minimum about most of them as we try to piece together their relationships to one another, and to Charlie. This was, at times, a bit confusing and frustrating, as I prefer to get to know my characters in more depth.
There were also A LOT of sub-plots.
And, although I DO give the author credit for the intricate plotting-tying ALL of those sub-plots together takes time-and I found myself growing a bit BORED while waiting for her to do so.
The story just WASN’T holding my interest for some reason. But, it was a buddy read with NZLisaM and it checked all the boxes for her!!
Be sure to read her amazing review! It’s always fun to discuss a book while reading it-whether or not you feel the same way about it!
Perhaps, for me-LESS is MORE?
NOW AVAILABLE!
Thank You to Transworld Digital for my gifted copy. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!
The synopsis describes Ebbing as a small, sleepy seaside town, with the weekenders in their fancy clothes, renovating old bungalows into luxury homes, and the locals resentful of the changes. A town, divided.
But, it doesn’t read like a “neighborhood� story where you REALLY get to know the residents from BOTH sides in depth. In fact, we don’t meet many “weekenders� at all.
The synopsis also introduces us to Dee Eastwood, a cleaner who is an invisible presence in the homes, of both-weekenders and locals-privy to what goes on behind closed doors-seeing and hearing all.
But, although she may know-don’t expect this to read as “soapy� or “gossipy� either.
DI Elise King never expected to live in a place like Ebbing. But after a battle with Cancer, and a break-up, she settled here in the seaside town-unsure if she would ever return to work.
Fortunately, her neighbor Ronnie, loves to play “amateur detective� so when a local-the popular Charlie Perry, “goes missing� she recruits Elise to help her “interview� his wife, Pauline.
Nobody believes that Charlie would leave voluntarily as he is very devoted to his daughter, Birdie, who has cognitive challenges and lives in a care home full time. So, Ronnie is keen to figure out who would want to do Charlie harm.
Turns out, Charlie has upset more than one of his neighbors�
Initially the story almost reads like a “COZY� and, I kind of wish it had remained that way, as THIS part was really enjoyable! Ronnie was just the antidote that Elise needed to feel ready to OFFICIALLY “get back to work�.
At about the 50% point, it defines itself as “police procedural�-as Elise does just that.
As we move forward and backward in time, we are introduced to A LOT of characters, only getting to know the bare minimum about most of them as we try to piece together their relationships to one another, and to Charlie. This was, at times, a bit confusing and frustrating, as I prefer to get to know my characters in more depth.
There were also A LOT of sub-plots.
And, although I DO give the author credit for the intricate plotting-tying ALL of those sub-plots together takes time-and I found myself growing a bit BORED while waiting for her to do so.
The story just WASN’T holding my interest for some reason. But, it was a buddy read with NZLisaM and it checked all the boxes for her!!
Be sure to read her amazing review! It’s always fun to discuss a book while reading it-whether or not you feel the same way about it!
Perhaps, for me-LESS is MORE?
NOW AVAILABLE!
Thank You to Transworld Digital for my gifted copy. It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!
June 30, 2022
***NOW AVAILABLE***
I have read Ms. Barton’s “Kate Waters� series so I was anxious to see what this standalone would be like!!
Once again I noted that the blurb for this book gave a lot of the story away!!
The small seaside town of Ebbing is an interesting study. The locals have lived there for ages and don’t want to see any change. The “weekenders� are buying some of the old bungalows and renovating them. If it weren’t for them the town would continue its downward slide!
Elise is a top notch, ambitious detective on medical leave after surgery. She spends most of her time looking out the window at people and wondering what she is missing.
One of the newcomers wants to see Ebbing get noticed as a vacation spot. He plans on having a large music festival which the locals strongly object to!
After the first night of the festival, a local, Charlie, goes missing. Elise has a hard time not getting involved in the case. She uses all of her “insider� information and along with her neighbor Ronnie, works on the case in spite of being ordered to “REST�.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THIS NOVEL:
I don’t usually mind switching from past to present but I didn’t think it worked in this book. I found myself confused as to which character was doing what, and what it had to do with the present story.
The first half of the book is spent setting up the plot, at 50% the novel picked up pace and I got more interested in the outcome.
The use of “er� in this novel drove me bonkers! Examples: “Er, I’m not sure.�, “Er, good, thanks�, “Er� it’s Jenny � she lives at number thirteen. You get the idea. I think I counted 15 times that this “unword� is used.
The best part of this novel for me was the police procedural. I enjoyed the detectives who worked to untangle the multitude of secrets and past identities of those involved in the case of the Local Gone Missing.
Honestly, I was disappointed with this book. I picked it up and put it down several times, getting frustrated with the timelines.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.
I have read Ms. Barton’s “Kate Waters� series so I was anxious to see what this standalone would be like!!
Once again I noted that the blurb for this book gave a lot of the story away!!
The small seaside town of Ebbing is an interesting study. The locals have lived there for ages and don’t want to see any change. The “weekenders� are buying some of the old bungalows and renovating them. If it weren’t for them the town would continue its downward slide!
Elise is a top notch, ambitious detective on medical leave after surgery. She spends most of her time looking out the window at people and wondering what she is missing.
One of the newcomers wants to see Ebbing get noticed as a vacation spot. He plans on having a large music festival which the locals strongly object to!
After the first night of the festival, a local, Charlie, goes missing. Elise has a hard time not getting involved in the case. She uses all of her “insider� information and along with her neighbor Ronnie, works on the case in spite of being ordered to “REST�.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THIS NOVEL:
I don’t usually mind switching from past to present but I didn’t think it worked in this book. I found myself confused as to which character was doing what, and what it had to do with the present story.
The first half of the book is spent setting up the plot, at 50% the novel picked up pace and I got more interested in the outcome.
The use of “er� in this novel drove me bonkers! Examples: “Er, I’m not sure.�, “Er, good, thanks�, “Er� it’s Jenny � she lives at number thirteen. You get the idea. I think I counted 15 times that this “unword� is used.
The best part of this novel for me was the police procedural. I enjoyed the detectives who worked to untangle the multitude of secrets and past identities of those involved in the case of the Local Gone Missing.
Honestly, I was disappointed with this book. I picked it up and put it down several times, getting frustrated with the timelines.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley.
May 11, 2023
…my childhood was one long nightmare, really. But this is different. Unfinished business—a time bomb ticking quietly like a second heart in my chest.---------------------------------------
He’s been up to his old tricks again.All is not what it seems. Ebbing is a small coastal community, rich with day-trippers, and increasingly, week-enders. We meet a cast of locals, Dave, the owner of a pub, The Neptune, Toby and Saul, who own The Lobster Shack, the postwoman, Pete Diamond, a new arrival eager to run a music festival, the unspeakable Pauline, and plenty more.
Elise knew that Ebbing wasn’t like its neighbors, Bosham or West Wittering. It didn’t feature in the Bayeux Tapestry or have thousands of visitors surging in like a spring tide on a nice day. An old fish factory with a corrugated roof squatted in the armpit of the curved sea wall guarding the harbor, and the ten thousand inhabitants lived mostly in prefabs, housing estate boxes, and salt-stained bungalows rather than thatched cottages but Elise didn’t mind. It felt a bit more real—and it was all she could afford on her own if she wanted to be by the sea. She’d never really considered it until recently—she was a city girl, through and through—but she’d worked up this fantasy that the sea would be company.DI Elise King, 43, is on extended leave, still recovering from, and being treated for, a nasty bout of breast cancer. Well, that and a broken heart after the sudden end to a long-term relationship. Being stuck, unable to properly get back to major-crimes work is a hardship of another sort.
Fiona Barton - image from the Madeline Milburn Agency
Luckily for her, there just happens to be a notable local person missing in Ebbing. Charlie Perry is 73, silver-haired, (I see Bill Nighy) a particularly friendly sort, a local sweetheart, with an adult disabled daughter on whom he dotes. He is involved in many local charities, and has a kind word for everyone. We meet Charlie in the prologue, affixed to a chair, gagged, waiting for his captors to return, desperate to escape.
The second piece that gets Elise moving is Ronnie, her charming, if intrusive, next-door neighbor. A particularly effervescent sort, she bubbles over on learning that Elise is a murder detective, and nudges her to get involved in solving the mystery, unofficially of course, and just by following small leads.
But there are other local curiosities that bear looking into as well. Two young people collapse at a local music festival after consuming some tainted drugs, (how did those drugs get there?) and a local barn catches fire mysteriously. There is a fair bit of unfaithfulness, more than a bit of financial distress, and lots and lots of secrets.
Of course, small leads lead to more questions, which lead to more leads which lead to� and on it grows. This offers Elise a way to test out her weakened physical and mental muscles, building her confidence, as long as she stays in the good graces of her colleagues in the local constabulary.
The structure is to alternate current action (in which Elise, with Ronnie, conducts a private investigation) with a recounting of events that led up to the present unwelcome state of affairs. We go back to seventeen days before Saturday, August 24, 2019, and step up to the present, day by day for the most part. Chapters are labeled with when events take place using the metric of the number of days before August 24. Both current and look-back chapters shift POV. Our primary character, Elise King, takes the most (37) but Dee, her house-cleaner takes up a fair number (19). Charlie gets 8 and 9 chapters are distributed among other characters. Barton is a master at presenting diverse POVs. It is always clear who is speaking, whose eyes are providing our witness.
One lovely element of this Fiona Barton novel was the rise in prominence of place. It has not been a major focus in the past, except in The Suspect, which included a lot about Thailand.
We moved here three years ago and it was lovely because we’d never lived by the sea before. So I had all this new material when we moved here. Lots of new people to watch and y’know, take notes about and so I decided that I would set my next book in Ebbing. Fictitious town. Did not want to get weighed down by a real location. And “I’ve had a lot of fun. Um, you know, sort of describing this small rundown seaside town…It is not one of the chi-chi ones that everybody wants to buy a property in, but it’s full of characters. - from The Poisoned Pen Bookstore interviewShe writes about the tension experienced in any gentrifying place, as locals become economically squeezed by more affluent outsiders. A change for Barton this time is that her main character is a detective. In her prior series, she had featured a journalist, reflecting her many years as a pro in that field.
In any mystery there are two general things to look at, the story itself (Is it interesting? Does it make sense?) and the appeal of the lead. Do you want to spend 384 pages with this person? Not to worry. We are introduced to Elise King as she is struggling to work her way back to the love of her life, the thing she is best at, the thing that gives her the most satisfaction, her work. The limitations she experiences are the result of her illness, an act of God essentially, and not the product of substance abuse or moral failing. Another element that is crucial to a satisfying mystery is that it offers surprises. You may need a neck brace to prepare for the whiplash from the many twists that Barton has woven into her plot. There are a couple of particularly good ones near the end.
The supporting cast is a true strength in this one. Dee gets a lot of screen time, so we get to know her second-best. It is a fun challenge trying to figure out what is going on with her. Pauline, Charlie’s wife, is comedically awful. Ronnie is a wonderful support and much-needed nudge for Elise. I was very happy to learn that Barton plans another Ebbing-based tale, and Elise and Ronnie will both be back.
Bottom line is that I found Local Gone Missing an entertaining mystery, with engaging characters, a compelling core story, and a string of related events that is tightly woven into a very readable book. If you can locate a copy you will not be sorry.
“You have to remember that monsters don’t look the part, Ronnie,� she said. “They’re not marked out in any way. If only . . . They live among us in plain sight. In their cardigans and sensible shoes. They have library cards, buy a poppy for Remembrance Day. They’re the man or woman next door who picks up a pint of milk for you, asks after your parents, or takes in parcels from deliverymen.� All the while planning their next act of depravity.
Review posted � July 1, 2022
Publication dates
----------Hardcover -June 14, 2022
----------Trade paperback - May 9, 2023
I received an ARE of Local Gone Missing from Berkley in return for finding it in myself to write a fair review. Thanks, folks, and thanks to NetGalley for facilitating.
This review has been cross-posted on my site, . Stop by and say Hi!
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the author’s , and pages
Interview
-----The Poisoned Pen Bookstore - - video
My review of an earlier book by Fiona Barton
-----The Suspect (Kate Waters #3)
Songs/Music
-----Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Theme song to Peaky Blinders - - referenced in chapter 14
June 25, 2022
2.5*
Detective Elise King is on leave, fighting the battle of her life - breast cancer. A battle she is presently conquering and wants nothing more than to return to work. Only her brain is fogged up, a side-effect of the chemo she received.
When a local man, Charlie, vanishes she can’t help but sniff around “unofficially� of course. But as the case becomes more complex she’s suddenly needed back on the frontline. Maybe even before she’s really ready to take that leap.
Told from multiple perspectives and timelines, the further I read the more confused I became.
There seemed to be so many fringe characters that kept popping up that I didn’t recognize. I kept questioning myself, “am I supposed to know who this is?�🤷🏻♀�
I have to admit by the end I’m not completely sure if I totally understood all the pieces of this complex puzzle.
What I did enjoy was the police procedural aspect and the character of Elise King. The chapters from her POV were clear and concise (even if her foggy brain wasn’t).
Not a favorite from this author, but I’ll still be reaching for her next.
A buddy read with Susanne that left both of us a bit confused 🤪
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group
Detective Elise King is on leave, fighting the battle of her life - breast cancer. A battle she is presently conquering and wants nothing more than to return to work. Only her brain is fogged up, a side-effect of the chemo she received.
When a local man, Charlie, vanishes she can’t help but sniff around “unofficially� of course. But as the case becomes more complex she’s suddenly needed back on the frontline. Maybe even before she’s really ready to take that leap.
Told from multiple perspectives and timelines, the further I read the more confused I became.
There seemed to be so many fringe characters that kept popping up that I didn’t recognize. I kept questioning myself, “am I supposed to know who this is?�🤷🏻♀�
I have to admit by the end I’m not completely sure if I totally understood all the pieces of this complex puzzle.
What I did enjoy was the police procedural aspect and the character of Elise King. The chapters from her POV were clear and concise (even if her foggy brain wasn’t).
Not a favorite from this author, but I’ll still be reaching for her next.
A buddy read with Susanne that left both of us a bit confused 🤪
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group
June 23, 2022
EXCERPT: The signature is a scrawl, but I know who it is. Now I want to know what they told each other. The painful things they dug up.
Leave it alone, Dee, I tell myself. It's ancient history. And Phil is dead.
But I know I won't. Can't. It's never over, is it? The past is always there, flickering like our old telly in a dark corner of my head. Most of the time, I can make myself blank it out, but little things - like a song that used to make me cry or the smell of cheap Chinese takeaways, our birthday treat - and it fizzes into focus. I've got a lot of bad memories - my childhood was one long nightmare, really. But this is different. Unfinished business; a time bomb ticking quietly like a second heart in my chest.
ABOUT 'LOCAL GONE MISSING': Elise King is a successful and ambitious detective--or she was before a medical leave left her unsure if she'd ever return to work. She now spends most days watching the growing tensions in her small seaside town of Ebbing--the weekenders renovating old bungalows into luxury homes, and the locals resentful of the changes.
Elise can only guess what really happens behind closed doors. But Dee Eastwood, her house cleaner, often knows. She's an invisible presence in many of the houses in town, but she sees and hears everything.
The conflicts boil over when a newcomer wants to put the town on the map with a giant music festival, and two teenagers overdose on drugs. When a man disappears the first night of the festival, Elise is drawn back into her detective work and starts digging for answers. Ebbing is a small town, but it's full of secrets and hidden connections that run deeper and darker than Elise could have ever imagined.
MY THOUGHTS: Local Gone Missing is fun. And it is the central core of characters - Ronnie (unabashedly nosey, and my absolute favourite), Elise the detective on sick leave, and Dee the cleaner of many of the homes belonging to people in the village, all-seeing, all-hearing and almost invisible - that are the stars. There are a lot of characters spread across the two timelines, 1999 and twenty years later, 2019, and they can get a little confusing. My advice is not to stress about it, just go with the flow. The author provides little prompts to help us remember.
The missing man is Charlie, a happy, charming and generous man with a disabled daughter in full time care. Everyone is shocked when he is reported missing by his ex-model wife, Pauline. Elise, bored but not yet ready to return to work, and her delightfully nosey neighbour Ronnie decide to investigate Charlie's disappearance to give themselves something to do.
Now I have to say that I enjoyed the first half of this book where Elise is still on leave and Ronnie is a prominent character infinitessimaly more than the second half, where Elise is officially investigating the disappearance and we don't see so much of Ronnie. I missed Ronnie's enthusiasm, her humour, her flashes of inspiration. She made me laugh, she made me wince. She's brash and brainy. I love her.
The mystery, which at first seems simple, soon becomes complex, as secrets are revealed and the true natures of the characters are revealed. My head spun. My grey cells whirred. Cogs ground. But I didn't have a clue. Lots of ideas, but none which stood up to the test of time in Barton's writing. I loved it.
An intriguing mystery, that I read in the course of one day. A read that left me smiling, satisfied, and hoping to meet these characters again.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.3
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T: @figbarton @penguinrandom @TransworldBooks @BantamPress
#contemporaryfiction #crime #detectivefiction #mystery #smalltownfiction
THE AUTHOR: My career has taken some surprising twists and turns over the years. I have been a journalist - senior writer at the Daily Mail, news editor at the Daily Telegraph, and chief reporter at The Mail on Sunday, where I won Reporter of the Year at the National Press Awards, gave up my job to volunteer in Sri Lanka and since 2008, have trained and worked with exiled and threatened journalists all over the world.
But through it all, a story was cooking in my head. As a national newspaper journalist covering notorious crimes and trials, I found myself wondering what the families of those accused really knew � or allowed themselves to know.
My husband and I are living the good life in south-west France, where I am writing in bed, early in the morning when the only distraction is our cockerel, Sparky, crowing.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
Please refer to my ŷ.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.
This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage
Leave it alone, Dee, I tell myself. It's ancient history. And Phil is dead.
But I know I won't. Can't. It's never over, is it? The past is always there, flickering like our old telly in a dark corner of my head. Most of the time, I can make myself blank it out, but little things - like a song that used to make me cry or the smell of cheap Chinese takeaways, our birthday treat - and it fizzes into focus. I've got a lot of bad memories - my childhood was one long nightmare, really. But this is different. Unfinished business; a time bomb ticking quietly like a second heart in my chest.
ABOUT 'LOCAL GONE MISSING': Elise King is a successful and ambitious detective--or she was before a medical leave left her unsure if she'd ever return to work. She now spends most days watching the growing tensions in her small seaside town of Ebbing--the weekenders renovating old bungalows into luxury homes, and the locals resentful of the changes.
Elise can only guess what really happens behind closed doors. But Dee Eastwood, her house cleaner, often knows. She's an invisible presence in many of the houses in town, but she sees and hears everything.
The conflicts boil over when a newcomer wants to put the town on the map with a giant music festival, and two teenagers overdose on drugs. When a man disappears the first night of the festival, Elise is drawn back into her detective work and starts digging for answers. Ebbing is a small town, but it's full of secrets and hidden connections that run deeper and darker than Elise could have ever imagined.
MY THOUGHTS: Local Gone Missing is fun. And it is the central core of characters - Ronnie (unabashedly nosey, and my absolute favourite), Elise the detective on sick leave, and Dee the cleaner of many of the homes belonging to people in the village, all-seeing, all-hearing and almost invisible - that are the stars. There are a lot of characters spread across the two timelines, 1999 and twenty years later, 2019, and they can get a little confusing. My advice is not to stress about it, just go with the flow. The author provides little prompts to help us remember.
The missing man is Charlie, a happy, charming and generous man with a disabled daughter in full time care. Everyone is shocked when he is reported missing by his ex-model wife, Pauline. Elise, bored but not yet ready to return to work, and her delightfully nosey neighbour Ronnie decide to investigate Charlie's disappearance to give themselves something to do.
Now I have to say that I enjoyed the first half of this book where Elise is still on leave and Ronnie is a prominent character infinitessimaly more than the second half, where Elise is officially investigating the disappearance and we don't see so much of Ronnie. I missed Ronnie's enthusiasm, her humour, her flashes of inspiration. She made me laugh, she made me wince. She's brash and brainy. I love her.
The mystery, which at first seems simple, soon becomes complex, as secrets are revealed and the true natures of the characters are revealed. My head spun. My grey cells whirred. Cogs ground. But I didn't have a clue. Lots of ideas, but none which stood up to the test of time in Barton's writing. I loved it.
An intriguing mystery, that I read in the course of one day. A read that left me smiling, satisfied, and hoping to meet these characters again.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.3
#LocalGoneMissing #NetGalley
I: #fionabartonauthor @penguinrandomhouseuk
T: @figbarton @penguinrandom @TransworldBooks @BantamPress
#contemporaryfiction #crime #detectivefiction #mystery #smalltownfiction
THE AUTHOR: My career has taken some surprising twists and turns over the years. I have been a journalist - senior writer at the Daily Mail, news editor at the Daily Telegraph, and chief reporter at The Mail on Sunday, where I won Reporter of the Year at the National Press Awards, gave up my job to volunteer in Sri Lanka and since 2008, have trained and worked with exiled and threatened journalists all over the world.
But through it all, a story was cooking in my head. As a national newspaper journalist covering notorious crimes and trials, I found myself wondering what the families of those accused really knew � or allowed themselves to know.
My husband and I are living the good life in south-west France, where I am writing in bed, early in the morning when the only distraction is our cockerel, Sparky, crowing.
DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Local Gone Missing by Fiona Barton for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.
Please refer to my ŷ.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.
This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage
January 6, 2022
4+
Money is the root of all evil as several characters who live in the seaside resort of Ebbing know only too well. Ebbing is a bit of a down at heel resort in Sussex with the “help� of weekenders. It’s where DI Elise Knight lives as she recovers from gruelling cancer treatment. Charlie Perry is the “local gone missing� in question and his disappearance causes many things come to a head and as Elise comes to fully appreciate, the whole thing is all about Ebbing, which is the epicentre of several mysteries.
The story is told from several perspectives and goes backwards and forwards in time to before and post Charlie vanishing which ought to be disjointed but it isn’t. Through this the mystery deepens, pieces of evidence appear jigsaw puzzle style which is tantalising as you are desperate to connect the pieces and see the big picture! There are plenty of plot twists, a large bundle of dark and terrible secrets and it’s all told at a quick pace. The characterisation is very good from “invisible� cleaner Dee whose eagle eyes miss nothing to the dynamic duo of Elise on sick leave and neighbour Ronnie who pair up to ‘solve� Charlie‘s disappearance. This is a fun team until it all starts to get very serious. I like the easy camaraderie between Elise and DS Caro Brennan too. There’s a good atmosphere created which is often tense between those that have lived in Ebbing for years with the newcomers who bring in the money and much resentment. The novel keeps you guessing throughout and there are several good plot reveals as it twists and turns its way to a satisfying finale when all the connections are made.
Finally, if you like a good mystery thriller then you like this as it’s an enjoyable, easy, well written read.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House U.K., Transworld, Bantam Press for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
Money is the root of all evil as several characters who live in the seaside resort of Ebbing know only too well. Ebbing is a bit of a down at heel resort in Sussex with the “help� of weekenders. It’s where DI Elise Knight lives as she recovers from gruelling cancer treatment. Charlie Perry is the “local gone missing� in question and his disappearance causes many things come to a head and as Elise comes to fully appreciate, the whole thing is all about Ebbing, which is the epicentre of several mysteries.
The story is told from several perspectives and goes backwards and forwards in time to before and post Charlie vanishing which ought to be disjointed but it isn’t. Through this the mystery deepens, pieces of evidence appear jigsaw puzzle style which is tantalising as you are desperate to connect the pieces and see the big picture! There are plenty of plot twists, a large bundle of dark and terrible secrets and it’s all told at a quick pace. The characterisation is very good from “invisible� cleaner Dee whose eagle eyes miss nothing to the dynamic duo of Elise on sick leave and neighbour Ronnie who pair up to ‘solve� Charlie‘s disappearance. This is a fun team until it all starts to get very serious. I like the easy camaraderie between Elise and DS Caro Brennan too. There’s a good atmosphere created which is often tense between those that have lived in Ebbing for years with the newcomers who bring in the money and much resentment. The novel keeps you guessing throughout and there are several good plot reveals as it twists and turns its way to a satisfying finale when all the connections are made.
Finally, if you like a good mystery thriller then you like this as it’s an enjoyable, easy, well written read.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House U.K., Transworld, Bantam Press for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.
June 7, 2022
Fiona Barton brings readers a detective mystery in her novel
Local Gone Missing
. It’s set in the fictional seaside town of Ebbing, England and features Detective Inspector Elise King. Elise is recovering from surgery and chemotherapy when a local man, Charlie Perry, goes missing after the first night of a controversial music festival. Additionally, two local teenagers overdose on drugs during the festival. While Elise isn’t on the case, she and her neighbor Ronnie do some sleuthing. About halfway through the novel, it switches to a police procedural.
Elise is very relatable. She is strong, ambitious, determined, and intelligent, but is still feeling the effects of the chemotherapy treatments and wonders if she will be up to going back to work. There is a wide range of other characters� viewpoints readers get to see. From the missing man, Charlie Perry, to the house cleaner Dee Eastwood who sees and hears more than her employers could ever guess to a variety of others. Using character point of views is effective because readers get to see how each character connects to and understands or misunderstands the others. This adds complexity and depth to the characters.
The author weaves a tale involving locals and weekenders as well as visitors with lots of secrets and hidden connections. Lies and misdirection are the rule, not the exception. While the story moves from person to person and back and forth in time, it worked reasonably well for me. With red herrings, twists, and turns, the story builds momentum until it culminates in an astonishing conclusion. This is a book about family, community, anger, change, lies, and most of all, relationships.
Overall, this was a fascinating read with a stunning and deeply involved plot. Will it become a series? If you enjoy mysteries, then I recommend that you check out this one.
Berkley Publishing Group and Fiona Barton provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for June 14, 2022.
---------------------------
Review coming soon.
Elise is very relatable. She is strong, ambitious, determined, and intelligent, but is still feeling the effects of the chemotherapy treatments and wonders if she will be up to going back to work. There is a wide range of other characters� viewpoints readers get to see. From the missing man, Charlie Perry, to the house cleaner Dee Eastwood who sees and hears more than her employers could ever guess to a variety of others. Using character point of views is effective because readers get to see how each character connects to and understands or misunderstands the others. This adds complexity and depth to the characters.
The author weaves a tale involving locals and weekenders as well as visitors with lots of secrets and hidden connections. Lies and misdirection are the rule, not the exception. While the story moves from person to person and back and forth in time, it worked reasonably well for me. With red herrings, twists, and turns, the story builds momentum until it culminates in an astonishing conclusion. This is a book about family, community, anger, change, lies, and most of all, relationships.
Overall, this was a fascinating read with a stunning and deeply involved plot. Will it become a series? If you enjoy mysteries, then I recommend that you check out this one.
Berkley Publishing Group and Fiona Barton provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for June 14, 2022.
---------------------------
Review coming soon.
November 10, 2022
2.5 stars, rounded up
There was nothing overtly wrong with this book, but in the same vein, there wasn't much I really liked about it either. I have enjoyed some of Barton's previous books, which I felt were well plotted with some good twists. This one was very predictable and not very surprising.
I love a good missing person story, but this one is really not about a missing person at all. At its core it kind of starts with Charlie, a man who goes missing, but it turns out that there are some events that go back many years that all come together. You get a bit lost in all of the various people and plots and once they all braid together it isn't a jaw dropping surprise, I kind of thought to myself "Oh, yeah, ok"
I listened to this as an audiobook with three different narrators: one for the male characters, one for Dee (the cleaner) and one for Elise (police detective). That helped me stay engaged in the story. Elise was by far and away my favorite character and I loved the police procedural sections of this book and how they picked apart how the various crimes were committed and covered up. That's what made me round up rather than down.
In the end, this book is an okay read, but I probably won't remember much about it next week. I'll still give Barton another try, because I have enjoyed books by her in the past.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
There was nothing overtly wrong with this book, but in the same vein, there wasn't much I really liked about it either. I have enjoyed some of Barton's previous books, which I felt were well plotted with some good twists. This one was very predictable and not very surprising.
I love a good missing person story, but this one is really not about a missing person at all. At its core it kind of starts with Charlie, a man who goes missing, but it turns out that there are some events that go back many years that all come together. You get a bit lost in all of the various people and plots and once they all braid together it isn't a jaw dropping surprise, I kind of thought to myself "Oh, yeah, ok"
I listened to this as an audiobook with three different narrators: one for the male characters, one for Dee (the cleaner) and one for Elise (police detective). That helped me stay engaged in the story. Elise was by far and away my favorite character and I loved the police procedural sections of this book and how they picked apart how the various crimes were committed and covered up. That's what made me round up rather than down.
In the end, this book is an okay read, but I probably won't remember much about it next week. I'll still give Barton another try, because I have enjoyed books by her in the past.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.
March 18, 2022
A complicated, intricate, cleverly plotted, multi-layered mystery, peppered with ingenious, tantalising clues.
Charlie Perry � a seventy-three year old local man, has gone missing from the small seaside village of Ebbing.
Last Sighting � the music festival on the grounds of the old vicarage, moments before two teenagers collapsed after taking ecstasy.
Known as a friendly, charming, generous and helpful local, Charlie is well liked by the community of Ebbing. Or, is he?
It may sound like a fairly straightforward plot, however Local Gone Missing was one heck of a puzzle. Good luck solving it all, because I sure couldn’t. Every time I figured out a little bit the author would throw a spanner in the works leaving me even more confused, but I persevered as I’m always keen to play detective. My head was constantly swimming with thoughts. There were numerous subplots, multi-faceted characters (all one hundred of them 😝), dark despicable crimes, elements of cosy and gothic, police investigations and interviews, class struggles in an English village, as well as a unique take on the amateur sleuthing trope. The present storyline started the day after the music festival, with flashbacks dating back to fourteen days before Charlie’s disappearance, working forwards, and both timelines included multiple points of view.
It was by no means a fast-paced read, a lot of time was devoted to setting the scene, atmosphere, and establishing and exploring the characters, their pasts, and existing relationships. My advice would be to read slowly and carefully, otherwise you will likely miss small hints and connections, and believe me, some of the most unlikeliest and mundane details were crucial to this mystery. Not only that, there were character’s coming out of the woodwork, all with backstories, and some weren’t introduced until over 50% of the way through the novel.
FYI, Local Gone Missing was a standalone novel, therefore not part of the Kate Waters trilogy. Although, I would be thriller if this turned out to be the first in a series too, as I would love to return to the village of Ebbing. Honestly, as far as mysteries go, this book was right up there with some of the best I’ve read. What a tangled web! A buddy read with Jayme, and our theories made for a compelling discussion.
I’d like to thank Netgalley, Random House UK Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press, and Fiona Barton for the e-ARC. It is with great pleasure that I add this novel to my favourites list.
Crime lovers, get your thinking caps on in time for the 9th June, 2022.
Oh, and you might just get the 1971 song ‘Knock Three Times� stuck in your head, if you get the reference that is. 😀
Charlie Perry � a seventy-three year old local man, has gone missing from the small seaside village of Ebbing.
Last Sighting � the music festival on the grounds of the old vicarage, moments before two teenagers collapsed after taking ecstasy.
Known as a friendly, charming, generous and helpful local, Charlie is well liked by the community of Ebbing. Or, is he?
It may sound like a fairly straightforward plot, however Local Gone Missing was one heck of a puzzle. Good luck solving it all, because I sure couldn’t. Every time I figured out a little bit the author would throw a spanner in the works leaving me even more confused, but I persevered as I’m always keen to play detective. My head was constantly swimming with thoughts. There were numerous subplots, multi-faceted characters (all one hundred of them 😝), dark despicable crimes, elements of cosy and gothic, police investigations and interviews, class struggles in an English village, as well as a unique take on the amateur sleuthing trope. The present storyline started the day after the music festival, with flashbacks dating back to fourteen days before Charlie’s disappearance, working forwards, and both timelines included multiple points of view.
It was by no means a fast-paced read, a lot of time was devoted to setting the scene, atmosphere, and establishing and exploring the characters, their pasts, and existing relationships. My advice would be to read slowly and carefully, otherwise you will likely miss small hints and connections, and believe me, some of the most unlikeliest and mundane details were crucial to this mystery. Not only that, there were character’s coming out of the woodwork, all with backstories, and some weren’t introduced until over 50% of the way through the novel.
FYI, Local Gone Missing was a standalone novel, therefore not part of the Kate Waters trilogy. Although, I would be thriller if this turned out to be the first in a series too, as I would love to return to the village of Ebbing. Honestly, as far as mysteries go, this book was right up there with some of the best I’ve read. What a tangled web! A buddy read with Jayme, and our theories made for a compelling discussion.
I’d like to thank Netgalley, Random House UK Transworld Publishers, Bantam Press, and Fiona Barton for the e-ARC. It is with great pleasure that I add this novel to my favourites list.
Crime lovers, get your thinking caps on in time for the 9th June, 2022.
Oh, and you might just get the 1971 song ‘Knock Three Times� stuck in your head, if you get the reference that is. 😀
April 19, 2022
3.5 stars, rounded up
Local Gone Missing is Fiona Barton’s fourth book and I’ve loved the two I read. So, I was curious to see what she’d do with this stand alone story.
DI Elise King is on medical leave for breast cancer. She's anxious about returning to work, as she still has chemo brain. She’s a bit bored, so when a neighbor starts poking into the disappearance of a local man after a music festival, Elise joins in.
At about halfway through the story, Elise is called back in to take over the actual police investigation. I found Elise an interesting character. She’s fully fleshed out. I’d be happy to have her re-appear in another book. And Ronnie, her neighbor and cohort was a hoot. I was sorry that she sort of disappeared in the second half of the book.
This book has a lot of moving parts. It’s told from multiple POVs and covers both the past leading up to the man’s disappearance and the search in the present. This is a town where everyone has secrets, none more so than the missing man. The book demands that you pay attention to keep up with all the moving parts. Barton gives us lots of possible suspects and red herrings. I can’t say that it all hung together as smoothly as I’d like.
My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for an advance copy of this book.
Local Gone Missing is Fiona Barton’s fourth book and I’ve loved the two I read. So, I was curious to see what she’d do with this stand alone story.
DI Elise King is on medical leave for breast cancer. She's anxious about returning to work, as she still has chemo brain. She’s a bit bored, so when a neighbor starts poking into the disappearance of a local man after a music festival, Elise joins in.
At about halfway through the story, Elise is called back in to take over the actual police investigation. I found Elise an interesting character. She’s fully fleshed out. I’d be happy to have her re-appear in another book. And Ronnie, her neighbor and cohort was a hoot. I was sorry that she sort of disappeared in the second half of the book.
This book has a lot of moving parts. It’s told from multiple POVs and covers both the past leading up to the man’s disappearance and the search in the present. This is a town where everyone has secrets, none more so than the missing man. The book demands that you pay attention to keep up with all the moving parts. Barton gives us lots of possible suspects and red herrings. I can’t say that it all hung together as smoothly as I’d like.
My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for an advance copy of this book.
March 14, 2023
This is a Mystery Suspense. I loved the characters in this book so much. The characters felt real, and I really did not guess who did it. I loved the drama ride this book took me on. The ending of this book was really good, and the reveal was done so well. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Berkley Books) or author (Fiona Barton) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.
September 26, 2022
Have you ever started a book & you knew this was going to be a long haul, well that’s what it was for me, I could not go on, the characters weren’t appealing & couldn’t get into the plot line I should have known to steer clear of this author after reading Widow.
May 18, 2022
DI Elise Knight is on medical leave from her job as a detective following chemo and surgery for breast cancer and is still feeling the pain the pain of her ex leaving her for another woman after nine years together. After the breakup she’d bought a small house in the little seaside town of Ebbing, where she is now slowly recovering from her treatment. It’s a town that is losing its permanent residents as houses are bought up by the ‘weekenders�. To drum up interest in the town as a vacation spot wealthy recent arrival, Pete Diamond, has organised a music festival which provokes a lot of opposition from the long time residents who want their town to remain peaceful and safe. All their fears are realised when two teenagers collapse with a drug overdose and local man Charlie Perry goes missing at the festival.
Bored with sitting at home staring out the window at the people in the street, Elise starts to investigate the case of the missing man with her neighbour, the irrepressible Ronnie, until her DCI contacts her and asks her to come back to work and take over as SIO after the detective in charge of the case had to take personal leave. There are a lot of people with secrets in the town, some that go back a long way so it takes some pretty good investigative police work to flush them all out and solve what happened to Charlie.
The plot zips backwards and forwards in time and points of view, which makes the timeline a little difficult to keep track of, but fills in the actions and motives of all those involved. It was fun to see Elise enjoys her time sleuthing, not just because she’d been away from work for a while but because it was a while since she’d been out from behind a desk in her job at major crimes. Ronnie proved to be an excellent side kick while cleaner Dee was able to provide a lot of intelligence gathered in her job as cleaner. The plot moves along at a good pace, provided you can keep up with the shifting time lines, and is more complex than first appears with quite a few false turns before the truth eventually falls into place. 3.5�
With thanks to Random House UK via Netgalley for a copy to read
Bored with sitting at home staring out the window at the people in the street, Elise starts to investigate the case of the missing man with her neighbour, the irrepressible Ronnie, until her DCI contacts her and asks her to come back to work and take over as SIO after the detective in charge of the case had to take personal leave. There are a lot of people with secrets in the town, some that go back a long way so it takes some pretty good investigative police work to flush them all out and solve what happened to Charlie.
The plot zips backwards and forwards in time and points of view, which makes the timeline a little difficult to keep track of, but fills in the actions and motives of all those involved. It was fun to see Elise enjoys her time sleuthing, not just because she’d been away from work for a while but because it was a while since she’d been out from behind a desk in her job at major crimes. Ronnie proved to be an excellent side kick while cleaner Dee was able to provide a lot of intelligence gathered in her job as cleaner. The plot moves along at a good pace, provided you can keep up with the shifting time lines, and is more complex than first appears with quite a few false turns before the truth eventually falls into place. 3.5�
With thanks to Random House UK via Netgalley for a copy to read
Read
June 10, 2022DNF at 32%. No connection to the characters or storyline.
June 4, 2023
Elise King is on medical leave from her job as a successful detective and lives in the small seaside town of Ebbing. When two teenagers overdose and a man disappears on the first night of a huge music festival, Elise is drawn into the investigation.
I really enjoyed this book just as much as the other Fiona Barton books that I've read. There are many characters in the story which is told from various points of view in "Before" and "Now" segments but I didn't have much of a problem remembering who was who. Since I was reading a physical copy instead of on my kindle, I have to admit that I had to make a list to keep everybody straight but before I was half-way through I didn't need to refer to it. The characters were realistically portrayed, the plot was original and I wasn't even close to guessing the ending. I hope there are more books featuring Elise and the town of Ebbing in the future.
I borrowed a copy of this book from the London Public Library.
I really enjoyed this book just as much as the other Fiona Barton books that I've read. There are many characters in the story which is told from various points of view in "Before" and "Now" segments but I didn't have much of a problem remembering who was who. Since I was reading a physical copy instead of on my kindle, I have to admit that I had to make a list to keep everybody straight but before I was half-way through I didn't need to refer to it. The characters were realistically portrayed, the plot was original and I wasn't even close to guessing the ending. I hope there are more books featuring Elise and the town of Ebbing in the future.
I borrowed a copy of this book from the London Public Library.
May 25, 2022
DI Elise King has returned to her coastal home town of Ebbing to recover from her cancer surgery when she gets embroiled in a missing person case, unofficially of course! Egged on by her elderly neighbour, the indomitable Ronnie who takes every opportunity to skip out on her boring husband, she chauffeurs Elise around and digs up many little nuggets of information.
Elise and Ronnie were both at the music festival on the Friday night, the festival that many locals arced up about, and Elise noticed local ‘celebrity� Charlie Perry staggering around looking most unwell. His wife, Pauline (I used to be a model you know) finally reports him missing on the Saturday but is not overly concerned. They are both in their seventies but Pauline still has dreams of grandeur and is having it away with a much younger man whenever Charlie is not around.
Poor Charlie’s body turns up late on Sunday. He is lying dead in the cellar of the decrepit old mansion Pauline insisted on buying but that they now cannot afford to refurbish enough to make it liveable. He has a nasty head wound that seems to be the cause of death. It soon transpires that quite a few people had a bone to pick with Charlie about his dodgy investment schemes and the suspect pool keeps growing.
But when Elise learns that Charlie Perry has no history she starts to dig deeper. His actual name was Charles Herbert Williams and he once had a flash home in London which was burgled. In the course of that burglary his daughter, 18 year old Birdie was severely injured and now needs constant care. Her boyfriend was killed. Elise realises the answer to Charlie’s death may lie 20 years in the past.
I would call this a cosy mystery. It started quite slowly and didn’t get particularly interesting until the second half. The characters were well portrayed, many of them having secrets. My favourite was Ronnie, I would love to have a Ronnie for a neighbour. Charlie was, well, charming but hopeless with money although he did dote on his daughter. The timeline jumps were not consistent and I found them quite annoying so eventually just ignored them, I think the story could have flowed better in this regard. The pacing built very gradually until a mostly satisfying ending. Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly.
Elise and Ronnie were both at the music festival on the Friday night, the festival that many locals arced up about, and Elise noticed local ‘celebrity� Charlie Perry staggering around looking most unwell. His wife, Pauline (I used to be a model you know) finally reports him missing on the Saturday but is not overly concerned. They are both in their seventies but Pauline still has dreams of grandeur and is having it away with a much younger man whenever Charlie is not around.
Poor Charlie’s body turns up late on Sunday. He is lying dead in the cellar of the decrepit old mansion Pauline insisted on buying but that they now cannot afford to refurbish enough to make it liveable. He has a nasty head wound that seems to be the cause of death. It soon transpires that quite a few people had a bone to pick with Charlie about his dodgy investment schemes and the suspect pool keeps growing.
But when Elise learns that Charlie Perry has no history she starts to dig deeper. His actual name was Charles Herbert Williams and he once had a flash home in London which was burgled. In the course of that burglary his daughter, 18 year old Birdie was severely injured and now needs constant care. Her boyfriend was killed. Elise realises the answer to Charlie’s death may lie 20 years in the past.
I would call this a cosy mystery. It started quite slowly and didn’t get particularly interesting until the second half. The characters were well portrayed, many of them having secrets. My favourite was Ronnie, I would love to have a Ronnie for a neighbour. Charlie was, well, charming but hopeless with money although he did dote on his daughter. The timeline jumps were not consistent and I found them quite annoying so eventually just ignored them, I think the story could have flowed better in this regard. The pacing built very gradually until a mostly satisfying ending. Many thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for the much appreciated arc which I reviewed voluntarily and honestly.
June 27, 2022
Charlie goes missing on the same night that 2 teenagers overdose on drugs during a music festival that long-time residents never wanted in the first place. Everybody likes Charlie (with the possible exception of his wife), a man in his 70s struggling to support a daughter living in a care residence. As a house cleaner for both the new and old residents, Dee has access to a lot of secrets. One of her clients is Elise, a police detective on leave who can’t resist investigating the events on festival night.
This book has too many characters, the ones mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg. Charlie’s backstory is doled out very slowly. Despite the fact that he was not exactly the kindly old gentleman he appeared to be, he and Elise were really the only characters I liked and who interested me in this book. The book did keep me entertained though.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
This book has too many characters, the ones mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg. Charlie’s backstory is doled out very slowly. Despite the fact that he was not exactly the kindly old gentleman he appeared to be, he and Elise were really the only characters I liked and who interested me in this book. The book did keep me entertained though.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
January 26, 2023
4�
Featuring ~ multiple POV's, dual timeline
The prologue grabbed me right in.
The story is told in multiple pov's and goes back and forth between now and before and each chapter is dated, so you'd think it would be easy to follow along, but at times it wasn't so you really need to pay attention. We have a couple of chapters told by others that really intertwines each character into the story bringing about secrets that everyone has.
But I'd say it's mainly told by Charlie, Dee and Elise.
Charlie is always around town chatting with everyone, probably trying to get away from his nightmare of a wife, Pauline. He goes missing after the music festival that many didn't want in their small town.
Dee is the invisible house cleaner for many homes in the town trying to make ends meet while her husband, Liam, is having trouble finding work. She sees and hears quite a bit, but she's not one to gossip and get involved, well not really.
Elise is out on medical leave due to breast cancer, but getting ancy to get back to work. She starts looking into the disappearance of Charlie on the sly with neighbor, Ronnie, and they slowly uncover more of who Charlie really is. When the lead detective has to step down Elise is back to work and officially on the case with partner, Caro.
I thought the police did a great job investigating and I enjoyed Ronnie 'Sherlock' as a side character.
This is my 4th book with this author and I enjoy her work. There's plenty on scheming and secrets in this suspenseful mystery. Although I had some inklings along the way, I was happy with how it all played out in the end.
*Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group, and NetGalley for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*
Follow me here � ~
Featuring ~ multiple POV's, dual timeline
The prologue grabbed me right in.
The story is told in multiple pov's and goes back and forth between now and before and each chapter is dated, so you'd think it would be easy to follow along, but at times it wasn't so you really need to pay attention. We have a couple of chapters told by others that really intertwines each character into the story bringing about secrets that everyone has.
But I'd say it's mainly told by Charlie, Dee and Elise.
Charlie is always around town chatting with everyone, probably trying to get away from his nightmare of a wife, Pauline. He goes missing after the music festival that many didn't want in their small town.
Dee is the invisible house cleaner for many homes in the town trying to make ends meet while her husband, Liam, is having trouble finding work. She sees and hears quite a bit, but she's not one to gossip and get involved, well not really.
Elise is out on medical leave due to breast cancer, but getting ancy to get back to work. She starts looking into the disappearance of Charlie on the sly with neighbor, Ronnie, and they slowly uncover more of who Charlie really is. When the lead detective has to step down Elise is back to work and officially on the case with partner, Caro.
I thought the police did a great job investigating and I enjoyed Ronnie 'Sherlock' as a side character.
This is my 4th book with this author and I enjoy her work. There's plenty on scheming and secrets in this suspenseful mystery. Although I had some inklings along the way, I was happy with how it all played out in the end.
*Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group, and NetGalley for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*
Follow me here � ~
June 30, 2022
The first few chapters was really good and then I kept feeling confused and lost. I think it might have had too many points of view. The storyline did seem good, but this one was just not for me.
May 19, 2022
Local Gone Missing was a clever and twisty tale of a sleepy seaside town called Ebbing in Sussex. When 2 teenagers end up in hospital after a local music festival and then a well known member of the community goes missing, Detective Elise King can’t help but start investigating. She is on medical leave from the force after treatment for breast cancer but she has to find out what is happening in her usually quiet hometown.
There is a lot going on in this story and plenty of characters to keep straight. We jump around timelines and points of view but I didn’t have trouble keeping up. There are some surprising twists and the story is very well done.
Thanks to BantamPress and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book to read.
There is a lot going on in this story and plenty of characters to keep straight. We jump around timelines and points of view but I didn’t have trouble keeping up. There are some surprising twists and the story is very well done.
Thanks to BantamPress and NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book to read.
September 6, 2022
When a local man, Charlie Perry goes missing, Detective Elise King can’t help but investigate, even though she’s on medical leave from the department. What Detective King finds, makes her quite suspicious. It’s clear that there’s more to the story than the police initially thought. Soon she’s back in the fold and investigating with her team.
Told from multiple POVs and timelines, this one had several characters that frankly, I didn’t really care for, which made it hard for me to like the book.
Another aspect that I felt was a bit over the top, was the fact that Detective King allowed her friend and neighbor, Ronnie, to assist with the investigation and shared facts about the investigation with her.
While there were parts of the novel I enjoyed, this book simply wasn’t for me. To that end, I think it’s time for me to part ways with this author.
2.65 stars
A buddy read with Kaceey.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for an arc via NetGalley.
Told from multiple POVs and timelines, this one had several characters that frankly, I didn’t really care for, which made it hard for me to like the book.
Another aspect that I felt was a bit over the top, was the fact that Detective King allowed her friend and neighbor, Ronnie, to assist with the investigation and shared facts about the investigation with her.
While there were parts of the novel I enjoyed, this book simply wasn’t for me. To that end, I think it’s time for me to part ways with this author.
2.65 stars
A buddy read with Kaceey.
Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group for an arc via NetGalley.
September 13, 2022
Sadly, Barton's most recent novel - 'Local Gone Missing' - just could not hold my attention. It was too slow in pace which hindered my appreciation for the suspense. In my opinion, there just was not any action or thrills - which is a must for me in the thriller/suspense genre.
On a positive note, the collaborative performance by Gabrielle Glaister, Jayne Entwistle, and Nicholas Guy Smith was terrific - and the reason why I stayed the course. They each voiced their individual characters flawlessly and their combined effort made for a supreme listening experience.
On a positive note, the collaborative performance by Gabrielle Glaister, Jayne Entwistle, and Nicholas Guy Smith was terrific - and the reason why I stayed the course. They each voiced their individual characters flawlessly and their combined effort made for a supreme listening experience.
June 27, 2022
Too many characters, too many subplots....
Too little time.
I enjoyed Fiona Barton's "The Child" but "Local Gone Missing" was a "miss" for this adult.
Too little time.
I enjoyed Fiona Barton's "The Child" but "Local Gone Missing" was a "miss" for this adult.
March 10, 2024
3.5 stars
short review for busy readers: police procedural on the English south coast. Characters, both locals and police, are very "normal". Writing is fine, pacing is fine. Somewhere between a cozy mystery and a domestic thriller. Major coincidences and the plot tries too hard towards the end. A decent beach read you can enjoy, but won't feel bad abandoning on a lounge chair.
in detail:
This isn't a bad thriller, but the characters are just so normal it hurts. Virtually all of them react in stereotypical, expected ways - the kids play with drugs, the locals blame weekenders and foreigners for ruining their life chances, everybody forgets the cleaning lady - with the singular exception of the overly keen neighbour, Ronnie, who was a delight.
I’m afraid I failed to sympathise or empathise with our focus character, Elsie, a Murder Squad DI, who is recovering from chemotherapy and long term relationship break-up.
Elsie’s about as exciting as peeling wallpaper and I seriously doubt a cop - even one out on extended sick leave - would allow a neighbour to play Watson to their Sherlock as she pokes around on a recent disappearance case out of boredom.
Due to that, I found it hard to care about the missing man or any of the antics in the village until about the middle of the novel more threads are reveled. From there, there’s a pretty good section before it all becomes way too complicated and the coincidences stack up to an unbelievable level.
The end was personally dissatisfying. I can’t sound the Teder Unsatisfactory Ending Alert� but
What I did especially like is that the cops were actually *polite*. No tough bastards, no good cop/bad cop psych games or aggressively accusing the suspect of lying and screaming in their faces. Such a refreshing change to see cops actually relying on facts, not threats, to get a confession! (Although, how believable is that? )
Half of the reveal is impossible to see coming, but the final one...about a 7 on the Ease of Solving Scale®.
All-in-all, a nice beach read you can enjoy, but not feel bad abandoning on a lounge chair somewhere.
short review for busy readers: police procedural on the English south coast. Characters, both locals and police, are very "normal". Writing is fine, pacing is fine. Somewhere between a cozy mystery and a domestic thriller. Major coincidences and the plot tries too hard towards the end. A decent beach read you can enjoy, but won't feel bad abandoning on a lounge chair.
in detail:
This isn't a bad thriller, but the characters are just so normal it hurts. Virtually all of them react in stereotypical, expected ways - the kids play with drugs, the locals blame weekenders and foreigners for ruining their life chances, everybody forgets the cleaning lady - with the singular exception of the overly keen neighbour, Ronnie, who was a delight.
I’m afraid I failed to sympathise or empathise with our focus character, Elsie, a Murder Squad DI, who is recovering from chemotherapy and long term relationship break-up.
Elsie’s about as exciting as peeling wallpaper and I seriously doubt a cop - even one out on extended sick leave - would allow a neighbour to play Watson to their Sherlock as she pokes around on a recent disappearance case out of boredom.
Due to that, I found it hard to care about the missing man or any of the antics in the village until about the middle of the novel more threads are reveled. From there, there’s a pretty good section before it all becomes way too complicated and the coincidences stack up to an unbelievable level.
The end was personally dissatisfying. I can’t sound the Teder Unsatisfactory Ending Alert� but
What I did especially like is that the cops were actually *polite*. No tough bastards, no good cop/bad cop psych games or aggressively accusing the suspect of lying and screaming in their faces. Such a refreshing change to see cops actually relying on facts, not threats, to get a confession! (Although, how believable is that? )
Half of the reveal is impossible to see coming, but the final one...about a 7 on the Ease of Solving Scale®.
All-in-all, a nice beach read you can enjoy, but not feel bad abandoning on a lounge chair somewhere.
February 10, 2023
Published June 14th, 2022
I'm going to stick to this part of a sentence from the blurb: Detective Elise King investigates a man's disappearance in a seaside town where the locals and weekenders are at odds with each other in this rich and captivating new novel...
And conclude with my own interpretation: Karma is a bitch, oh yeah.
The thing is, each time I read a Fiona Barton novel, she takes me to emotional levels where I want to stop breathing, or functioning. This time around she lured me into a sunnyside-up beach town, where good people lived happily ever after and life was tough for some, but colorful enough to survive any challenges coming their way. So much light everywhere. Initially.
That was until good ole' Charlie Perry, the town's most beloved personna, disappeared. And an ambitious Pete Diamond thought it a good idea to organize a monumental music festival for the town. Suffice to say, the supporters prepared to make a few extra bugs, and the protesters spend a few extra bugs to make it go away, and as with any other big event, the undertakers also dusted off a few coffins, for just in case. They are not mentioned in the story, it's just my imagination running away with me again. Can't help myself, sorry. How could I not get me self sidetracked here? A few old-, as well as new bodies, turned up everywhere? The plot was just too good and way too entertaining.
This was such a relaxing but riveting read. I enjoyed the characters so much that I was happy to enjoy the journey and did not much care for the denouement. I earlier on suspected who the 'who-dunnit' was, but had a few other towns people firmly nailed to my own mental whiteboard of suspects.
Talking about boards. There were paddle boards, cupboards, electricity boards, whiteboards, emery boards, trade signboards, whiteboards, switchboards, headboards, dashboards, boarding passes, strewn all over this mystery. Residents went overboard, or was aboveboard, when Detective Inspector Elise King of the Sussex police had to sort out the chaos in the seaside town of Ebbing. This is the only clues I'm going to share... :-))
About the denouement. It was still a surprise. Although my suspicion was correct, Fiona got me again where it hurts the most. It should have happened but I felt so immensely sad for the perpetrator and ...
Well, there's never only one individual suffering from the sins of the parents, right? This story is full of those moments. Just so very sad.
Nonetheless, this is an excellent summer read for some, and for us, being in the midst of winter, a fireside tale of mystery and suspense.
RECOMMENDED
I'm going to stick to this part of a sentence from the blurb: Detective Elise King investigates a man's disappearance in a seaside town where the locals and weekenders are at odds with each other in this rich and captivating new novel...
And conclude with my own interpretation: Karma is a bitch, oh yeah.
The thing is, each time I read a Fiona Barton novel, she takes me to emotional levels where I want to stop breathing, or functioning. This time around she lured me into a sunnyside-up beach town, where good people lived happily ever after and life was tough for some, but colorful enough to survive any challenges coming their way. So much light everywhere. Initially.
That was until good ole' Charlie Perry, the town's most beloved personna, disappeared. And an ambitious Pete Diamond thought it a good idea to organize a monumental music festival for the town. Suffice to say, the supporters prepared to make a few extra bugs, and the protesters spend a few extra bugs to make it go away, and as with any other big event, the undertakers also dusted off a few coffins, for just in case. They are not mentioned in the story, it's just my imagination running away with me again. Can't help myself, sorry. How could I not get me self sidetracked here? A few old-, as well as new bodies, turned up everywhere? The plot was just too good and way too entertaining.
This was such a relaxing but riveting read. I enjoyed the characters so much that I was happy to enjoy the journey and did not much care for the denouement. I earlier on suspected who the 'who-dunnit' was, but had a few other towns people firmly nailed to my own mental whiteboard of suspects.
Talking about boards. There were paddle boards, cupboards, electricity boards, whiteboards, emery boards, trade signboards, whiteboards, switchboards, headboards, dashboards, boarding passes, strewn all over this mystery. Residents went overboard, or was aboveboard, when Detective Inspector Elise King of the Sussex police had to sort out the chaos in the seaside town of Ebbing. This is the only clues I'm going to share... :-))
About the denouement. It was still a surprise. Although my suspicion was correct, Fiona got me again where it hurts the most. It should have happened but I felt so immensely sad for the perpetrator and ...
Well, there's never only one individual suffering from the sins of the parents, right? This story is full of those moments. Just so very sad.
Nonetheless, this is an excellent summer read for some, and for us, being in the midst of winter, a fireside tale of mystery and suspense.
RECOMMENDED
September 20, 2022
This was a fun mystery with many unexpected twists and turns. Another reminder to watch what you say around your housekeeper - they know way more than you think!
Full of well developed characters, this book is sure to keep you turning pages and staying up past your bedtime!
Full of well developed characters, this book is sure to keep you turning pages and staying up past your bedtime!
July 2, 2022
I always enjoy reading a novel and was no exception. I've had some time to think about this one and it made me bump my rating up just a bit from where it started at a 3.5/5. I couldn't help but be a little confused since there is a lot going on in this one, but I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that I listened to the audiobook. I really appreciated that there were 3 narrators (Gabrielle Glaister, Jayne Entwistle & Nicholas Guy Smith), but there are a lot more viewpoints than narrators, so it did tend to get confusing that way. I am definitely planning on a reread of this at some point, and for that, I will try simply reading the book as normal. Despite my confusion, I was a really big fan of the audiobook in general and I thought all of the narrators were fantastic. In other words, don't be scared to pick up the audio just because I got confused by all the characters.
Out of all the viewpoints, I definitely enjoyed Elise's the most, and thanks to her there is a very police procedural feel to the story. I love police procedurals, and I loved watching Elise as she tries to figure out what is going on in Ebbing. Out of everyone, I felt like I got to know her the best and was very invested in her since she is on leave thanks to having breast cancer. I really felt for her, and she felt the most fleshed-out of the characters. I was also a huge fan of the way so many things and characters tied together, and the small-town feel of everyone knowing things about everyone else. There are plenty of secrets to be revealed though, and I enjoyed the slow unraveling of them. I would call the pacing of Local Gone Missing medium at best, but there is so much going on that it easily kept me interested. So, who should read this? Fans of police procedurals who can handle a lot of viewpoints and a lot of moving pieces, this is for you!
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Out of all the viewpoints, I definitely enjoyed Elise's the most, and thanks to her there is a very police procedural feel to the story. I love police procedurals, and I loved watching Elise as she tries to figure out what is going on in Ebbing. Out of everyone, I felt like I got to know her the best and was very invested in her since she is on leave thanks to having breast cancer. I really felt for her, and she felt the most fleshed-out of the characters. I was also a huge fan of the way so many things and characters tied together, and the small-town feel of everyone knowing things about everyone else. There are plenty of secrets to be revealed though, and I enjoyed the slow unraveling of them. I would call the pacing of Local Gone Missing medium at best, but there is so much going on that it easily kept me interested. So, who should read this? Fans of police procedurals who can handle a lot of viewpoints and a lot of moving pieces, this is for you!
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
June 11, 2022
Review coming soon.
June 14, 2022
Where could Charlie be, what is Charlie's real name, and what is his past?
Did he disappear on purpose because of the massive debt he had accumulated?
Since they found his wallet at the controversial festival, was he harmed or kidnapped?
We find out where he is and what happened to him as we also find out that this small town has many secrets being kept.
We meet quite a few characters who have shady pasts and shady current situations.
The character that becomes the main focus is Elise King who is a policewoman on sick leave and the one who takes on the investigation of where Charlie really is and who he really is.
It is good for Elise since she has been bored. Her friend and neighbor, Ronnie, also gets in on the investigation.
Will she find out what happened to Charlie...is it a local person, a person he owed money to, or just a random act of violence.
It actually took a while to connect to the story line and to the characters, and the multiple number of characters did become confusing.
The intensity of Elise’s investigation and her determination did make the book more interesting as we learned about police procedure.
I was a bit disappointed about the beginning of the book because I always enjoy Ms. Barton’s books...it was confusing, but it did get wrapped up in the end. 3/5
This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.
Did he disappear on purpose because of the massive debt he had accumulated?
Since they found his wallet at the controversial festival, was he harmed or kidnapped?
We find out where he is and what happened to him as we also find out that this small town has many secrets being kept.
We meet quite a few characters who have shady pasts and shady current situations.
The character that becomes the main focus is Elise King who is a policewoman on sick leave and the one who takes on the investigation of where Charlie really is and who he really is.
It is good for Elise since she has been bored. Her friend and neighbor, Ronnie, also gets in on the investigation.
Will she find out what happened to Charlie...is it a local person, a person he owed money to, or just a random act of violence.
It actually took a while to connect to the story line and to the characters, and the multiple number of characters did become confusing.
The intensity of Elise’s investigation and her determination did make the book more interesting as we learned about police procedure.
I was a bit disappointed about the beginning of the book because I always enjoy Ms. Barton’s books...it was confusing, but it did get wrapped up in the end. 3/5
This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.
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