Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?

A richly drawn, deeply felt novel in which every one of its 544 pages is absolutely enthralling. It’s Alec Salter’s fiftieth birthday—just days before Christmas, 1990—and scores have come together to celebrate, dance, and drink the night away. All except for his wife Charlotte, who planned to attend, but never shows up. While Alec shrugs away her absence, anxiety takes hold of their four children, especially Etty, fifteen years old and the only girl. It’s largely Etty’s perspective we experience, as day follows desolate day and she searches the countryside for her mother. It just tears your heart apart. When, days later, the body of neighbor Duncan Ackerley is found floating in the river—he’s a good friend and possible lover of Charlotte—the police are quick to conclude that Duncan killed Charlotte and then himself. Jump ahead to 2022, when the two Ackerley sons are back home, busy making a podcast about the deaths, the Salters have returned to pack up the family home and put Dad in a nursing facility, and the police have reopened both of the cases. This second part of the novel is driven by Maud O’Connor, a brilliant, young detective inspector obsessed with finding the truth. It’s she who is able to put together the pieces and in turn, the characters as well. A powerful example of crime fiction at its best.