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In The Midnight Hour

Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence

In The Midnight Hour

ミシェル・スプリング

This psychological suspense novel follows private investigator Laura Principal as she enters the past of a young child's disappearance. The cold atmosphere of the East Anglian coast brings family secrets and guilt sharply into view.

psychological suspensedisappearancefamily secretscoast

Work Information

The memory of a child who vanished by the sea unsettles people's secrets after many years.

A Laura Principal novel by Michelle Spring. The identifier used here is for the Orion UK print edition, while a US edition is also traceable in reference sources. No standalone Japanese edition was confirmed.

Book Information

Publisher
Orion
Published
2001-04-19
Pages
320 pages
Language
英語
Size
13.5 x 2.5 x 21.6 cm
ISBN-13
9780752824819
ISBN-10
0752824813
Price
2987 JPY
Category
洋書/Mystery & Thrillers/Mystery

Twenty years ago a child vanished without trace from a wild stretch of shoreline in East Anglia. His body was never found and his parents have searched for him ever since. Now on a quiet street in Cambridge the mother discovers a young man whom she hopes against hope is her missing son. But the joy of reunion is laced with dread. Is this beautiful youth an interloper or is he really the lost child? And if he is the boy who disappeared from the beach, where has he been all these years? What, most of all is his connection with the violence that begins with his arrival and ends, almost inevitably, with murder? The parents of the disappeared child ask Laura Principal to investigate and try to find answers to these questions. She finds her own world turned upside down in this chilling story of identity, devotion - and death.

Michelle Spring was raised on Vancouver Island. She worked for many years as an academic in Cambridge where she lives with her husband and their two children. She has written several academic books. This is her fifth novel.

Reviews

  • Splendid mystery, characters, and writing.

    Just finished this book and have to say how "wowed" I was. So wowede that I just started Every Breath I Take and am equally enthralled. In the Midnight Hour really kept me going and intrigued about the main plot, which involves a long-missing child and a family that can't let go of their loss (for differing reasons) for more than 12 years when a young man suddenly appears. The female detective investigating is thoughtful. perceptive, charming, and serious, but with a good sense of humor in a situation that is far from humorous. I really recommend this to those looking for a story line that embraces all of the turmoil in people's lives when everything turns upside down and secrets abound that make the mystery so difficult to unravel.

  • Sorry to say this book didn't work for me. ...

    Sorry to say this book didn't work for me. I struggled to get to page 30 and had to discard it. Characters I couldn't care less about and absolutely no tension. Pity, as I was fascinated with the subject.

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