The Disappeared - M.R. Hall

The second appearance of Briton Jenny Cooper, Severn Vale District coroner, comes hot on the heels of her debut in The Coroner (2009). Continuing to struggle with demons from her past, Jenny relies on prescription meds and therapy to keep her work life steady. That’s a particularly tall order this time when an inquest she’s conducting on the death of a young Muslim student puts her at odds with both MI5 and the local police. With an assistant more loyal to the cops than to the coroner, and a disreputable attorney playing on her anxieties, Cooper is definitely struggling; the boy’s death may have been murder, and the integrity of her office is at stake. The pressure intensifies when the dead student’s mother is found murdered. A bit too tenative about her investigative role to be aligned with classic female American private eyes Warshawski or Millhone, Cooper, an intriguingly flawed and appealing character, is more like Lynda La Plante’s British copper Anna Travis. A series to watch.