Vanished-Jordan Gray

Vanished
Jordan Gray
Harlequin, Nov 1 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780373837526

It has been almost a year since Michael and Molly Graham moved to the tiny English village of Blackpool on the Coast. Although the locals consider them to be outsiders, they have made a few friends and even solved a murder. The pair also continues to renovate the mansion they bought.

One of their new buddies is Dylan Stewart who is having marital problems because his wife Naomi wants to leave. Since Dylan refuses to take her from the small town she has lived in all her life, Naomi becomes involved with Willie Myners, the wealthy local drug pusher. Willie offers to take Naomi with him and act as her agent for her artistic endeavors. Dylan is well aware of what is going one between his spouse and Willie. He goes to constrain the dealer, but finds him dead in his home. The police arrest Dylan, but the Graham duet believes he is innocent and intends to prove their assertion. They go to Willie’s place to search for clues and find rare valuable gold coins. The villagers believe it is part of a pirate treasure buried beneath the village. When Willie’s neighbor is also murdered and Molly is warned to stop her snooping, the Grahams are more motivated than before to find the truth.

Filled with legends of hidden treasures, pirates who roamed the streets and wreckers who lured boats to crash in coastal England, Vanished is a wonderful cozy within a gothic atmosphere. The M&M sleuthing team is reminiscent of N&N (Nick and Nora Charles of Thin Man fame and not of Infinite Playlist fame) in a British village setting. The characters and the plot believable, fans of British village amateur sleuths will enjoy this fine whodunit.

Harriet Klausner