‘In the Midnight Hour ‘ by Michelle Spring

Published by Orion,
19 April 2001.
ISBN: 978-0-5282480-2 (HB)

Four-year-old Timmy Cable disappeared from a Norfolk beach, and despite an extensive police search was never found. Now twelve years later, Private Investigator Laura Principal of Aardvark Investigation in Cambridge, is asked by Timmy's father, Jack Cable "Have you ever lost a child?"

Through the eyes of Olivia Cable, Laura faces the ever-open wound created by the loss of a child. For Olivia has never given up hope of finding Timmy, constantly over the years seeking the face of her missing child. And now she thinks that she has found him in a street busker named Liam.

Hired by Jack Cable to protect his wife and to investigate Liam, Laura meets the rest of the Cable family and assesses their reactions to the sudden appearance of Liam. Catherine the daughter acts strangely and seems initially unconcerned by the possible re-appearance of her long-lost brother. While Max, Jack's brother, and his son Robin seem hostile. Of them all, Liam seems calm and almost unaffected by the possibility of being Timmy Cable. At one point when gently probing for background information from Liam, Laura chides herself to beware of making judgements because a person who is shy with strangers, may be the life and soul of the party when with friends, and observes that personality and attitude alter with time and circumstance. If this is Timmy Cable, what sort of life has he had. What sort of person is he? and why have unexplained acts of violence in the Cable household coincided with his arrival?.

In an effort to find answers, Laura seeks background information of the twelve-year-old case from her one time student, Nicole Pelletier, now Detective Inspector with the Cambridgeshire police force. Laura also visits the Norfolk beach where Timmy disappeared. Michelle Spring eloquently transports the reader to the beach on that fateful morning with a storm on the horizon.

Threaded through the investigation is Laura's personal life with her partner and lover Sonny. In this book, aspects of Sonny's personality are revealed which give growth and depth to Laura's relationship, and to the book.

As with Michelle's previous books, apart from weaving first class suspense mysteries, she explores wider issues. In this book the long-term effects on all family members who have suffered the loss of a child, and the different threads running through this book each reinforce the other, to provide the reader with a complex fascinating mystery and a thought-provoking story.

With suspense, mystery, emotion, and a dramatic climax, this book is highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes

Michelle Spring was raised on Vancouver Island. She worked for many years as an academic in Cambridge. She has written several academic books. This is her fifth novel Laura Principal book. She has also written a standalone The Night Lawyer.