Crooked Street: A Joanna Piercy police procedural (A Joanna Piercy Mystery)

Jadon Glover, the perfect Husband, did not return home one night.  His wife Eve, calls the police, but too often errant Husbands have run off or had one drink too many, so, the Police are not very concerned. He is a financial Manager with Johnston and Pickles the Officers are told... but when they start digging- he doesn’t work there! Nothing is known of his background or Parents. In short, he is as beige as the background in his perfect life. But then things start to unravel.

The Detective in charge of the case is a second wife.  D.I. Joanna Piercy and her Husband have no children together and his job is as stressful as hers.  They are struggling with the need to move...she to accept his Parents.  The death of a child in her Husbands job is heartrending to him and at one point he says, “he wishes he had something to come home to cuddle and love.” The bulk of our story though is the police work, fitted into a detailed investigation, which leads to a gritty, forensic find.

Priscilla Masters builds the mystery slowly. The layers are interwoven in her chapters... question by question and with a variety of clues. The comprehensive descriptions  threaded within the plot reveal a vendetta against the main character that she ties up successfully.  I sat reading until very late at night and I suspect you will too.