Town split by missing children

GEOFFREY WANSELL

PAPER CAGE

(Baskerville £18.99, 320pp) LORRAINE HENRY works for the police in a small New Zealand town, as a lowly records clerk stuck in the basement — but she lies at the heart of this magnetic debut.

Auntie Lo, as she’s known, finds herself sucked into the investigation of the mysterious disappearance of three children, including her greatnephew Bradley.

The rivalries between the indigenous Maori residents of the town and the white inhabitants form the backdrop to the search for them.

Are the indigenous people taking the children to make a point, or is there something even more sinister at work?

This beautifully constructed plot has already won awards, and it is easy to see why with a protagonist who is impossible not to root for. But can Auntie Lo really solve the case? That’s what makes this story so breathtakingly compelling.

DEADLY ANIMALS by Marie Tierney (Zaffre £16.99, 400pp)

THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD Ava is not like other children. This gifted teenager has a compulsive interest in how animals decompose after death.

She lives near a motorway in Birmingham, which provides plenty of roadkill for her to examine in a secret den she has created in the woods.

One night, she discovers the dead body of Mickey Grant, a fellow pupil from her school, in her den. He’s putrifying.

Ava reports her discovery anonymously to the police, but then starts to investigate what might have happened to Mickey, and DI Seth Delahaye realises that Ava can help him discover the truth.

Tierney was a finalist in the

Daily Mail writing competition and her exceptional talent shines through in this dark, engrossing drama.

HAS ANYONE SEEN CHARLOTTE SALTER? by Nicci French

(Simon & Schuster £18.99, 544pp)

FANS of the husband and wife writing team, Sean French and Nicci Gerrard, will need no encouragement to seize on this latest example of their rare talent. It’s their 25th crime collaboration since 1997 and shows off their exceptional skills as storytellers.

The story opens in 1990 when the beautiful and vivacious Charlotte Salter fails to turn up to her husband Alec’s 50th birthday party. Her daughter, Etty, and three sons, struggle to come to terms with their mother’s disappearance, and begin to suspect that she has been killed — though no body is ever found.

Fast-forward 30 years and Etty returns to the village where she grew up to move her father into a care home.

Suddenly, two childhood friends launch a podcast about her mother’s disappearance and ugly secrets emerge. The French magic is at work again.