File Under: Missing [Hardcover]

Sarah Lacey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1994

At the request of her retired friend Dora, tax inspector Leah Hunter probes the mysterious disappearance of young Andy Howe, who has not been seen since he attended a party thrown by music producer Dean Wilde.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A flip, irreverent sense of humor and a keen eye for social ills characterize Yorkshire tax inspector and amateur sleuth Leah Hunter, who was introduced in File Under: Deceased. When her elderly friend Dora asks her to look into young Andy Howe's disappearance, Leah agrees--the police don't seem interested and she's on vacation with nothing better to do than paint her flat. The young man was last seen at a party at the home of his employer, music producer Dean Wilde. When Wilde stonewalls Leah's questions, she looks for someone who can help her locate and talk to other party guests. The contact she finds is Neil Anderson, an old classmate from grade school, who is now a handsome car dealer with tenuous ties to Wilde. Neil becomes competition for Leah's police detective lover, Dave Nicholls, whose overprotectiveness infuriates the independent tax inspector. Balancing her love life and her investigation, savvy Leah uncovers extortion and an IRA arms connection in a brisk, gritty story.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Warning to Yorkshire malefactors: Leah Hunter fights back! The raspy Bramfield tax inspector who survived buggings, muggings, and assaults with deadly vehicles in her debut (File Under: Deceased, 1993) isn't giving up her search for Andy Howe, who hasn't been seen since a flash party at his ex-rocker employer Dean Wilde's. Somebody--presumably Wilde or his secret partner, Robert Cresswell, who owns the Lakeside Country Club and the ill-connected rock club Bloomers--really wants Hunter off the case. But even though she gets one timid informant about the party killed and discovers another corpse herself, she soldiers on, aided by the raffish friends--a local PI, a martial arts instructor, an auto mechanic- -who substitute for the official connections she only wishes she had. Even when her in-your-face sleuthing finally leads her from the local music-and-drugs scene to some deadly IRA bully-boys, you can put your money on the lady, who sends one assailant directly to jail, leaves another knocked out in a parking lot as she drives off, and--well, you don't even want to hear about the fate of the killer who thought taking her out personally would close the case. Lacey still has trouble putting together a coherent plot; but scene by scene, wisecrack by wisecrack, Hunter is a terrifically entertaining guide through this walk on the seamy side. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 223 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; First U.S. Edition First Printing edition (August 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312109822
• ISBN-13: 978-0312109820
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,069,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars All three books in series are good reads, May 31, 2006

By 

Maria Schneider "Maria E. Schneider" (Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: File Under: Missing (Hardcover)

Sarah Lacey also writes as Kay Mitchell--a series that involves Inspector Morrissey. The Morrissey mysteries are more intricate mysteries, perhaps a bit darker. Morrissey is a more human character than the young, feisty Leah of the Sarah Lacey series. He tends to make mistakes with his family--putting them aside for work and then having to wind his way back, realizing their importance.

Lacey mysteries are fun, light reading. Morrissey mysteries may keep you up at night, because you have to make sure the heroes make it out alive.