Fiona Barton’s ‘Local Gone Missing’ has all the right twists, turns

Fiona Barton is back with a new thriller, the solid and steadily paced “Local Gone Missing” (Berkley, 384 pp., eeee).

Barton’s first three novels – “The Widow,” “The Child” and “The Suspect” – featured investigative journalist Kate Waters. Now the author tries her hand at another kind of investigator.

Elise King is champing at the bit to return to her day job as a detective inspector with the major crime team. But for now, she is recovering from cancer and on medical leave in the fictional English seaside town of Ebbing. Elise recently made her home there after a bad breakup with a work colleague.

Ebbing is a quaint town going through changes. Weekenders are taking over, renovating seaside bungalows into luxury homes.

The resentful locals are not too keen on the effects on the local economy and the resulting escalation in home prices that keeps many locals from buying. And to make matters worse, newcomer Pete Diamond has orchestrated a music festival to take place in Ebbing, much to the locals’ dismay.

Elise keeps to herself since her move. Her only recent guest is local Charlie Perry, who stops by soliciting donations for a charity. But for the most part, her only acquaintances in town are Dee, her housekeeper (really, the town’s housekeeper), and Ronnie, her next-door neighbor.

That is, until the first night of the music festival, where two local teens OD and Charlie disappears. As a result, Elise is drawn back to detective work, if unofficially.

Along with her neighbor Ronnie and her work colleague, detective sergeant

Caro Brennan, Elise begins to investigate what happened to Charlie and soon discovers that the town, though it may be small in population, is big in characters with secrets and hidden connections that run deep.

Barton successfully spins and weaves the novel’s various storylines with ease.

The reader follows the before, during and after of that fatal day through multiple sets of eyes: Elise, who is investigating; the mysterious Charlie, who is missing; and Dee, whose career as a housekeeper allows her entry to many of the town’s homes.

Each chapter reveals a new layer of deceit. As in any good thriller, there’s more to the story than meets the eye. “Local Gone Missing” is a slower burn than Barton’s previous novels, but readers will savor untangling the intricate web Barton weaves.