A Child Lost by Michele Cox

 

• Series Title:  A CHILD LOST (A Henrietta and Inspector Howard Novel #5) by Michelle Cox
• Category:  Adult Fiction (18+)
• Genre:  Historical Mystery
• Publisher:  She Writes Press
• Release dates:   April 2020
• Content Rating: R: My book is rated R for 2 sex scenes
  that are somewhat explicit but which are tastefully done. There is
  periodic swearing (not excessive), but no violence.

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A spiritualist, an insane asylum, a lost little girl . . .

When Clive, anxious to distract a depressed Henrietta, begs Sergeant
Frank Davis for a case, he is assigned to investigating a seemingly
boring affair: a spiritualist woman operating in an abandoned
schoolhouse on the edge of town who is suspected of robbing people of
their valuables. What begins as an open and shut case becomes more
complicated, however, when Henrietta―much to Clive’s dismay―begins to
believe the spiritualist’s strange ramblings.

Meanwhile, Elsie begs Clive and Henrietta to help her and the object of
her budding love, Gunther, locate the whereabouts of one Liesel
Klinkhammer, the German woman Gunther has traveled to America to find
and the mother of the little girl, Anna, whom he has brought along with
him. The search leads them to Dunning Asylum, where they discover some
terrible truths about Liesel. When the child, Anna, is herself
mistakenly admitted to the asylum after an epileptic fit, Clive and
Henrietta return to Dunning to retrieve her. This time, however,
Henrietta begins to suspect that something darker may be happening. When
Clive doesn’t believe her, she decides to take matters into her own
hands . . . with horrifying results.

This is a new series for me, so I realized early in the book that I really needed to read the earlier entries to have a better understanding of the character dynamics here. Even so, I was able to read through the story and follow the plot without issue. The story stands alone; it’s just the relationship histories of the characters that left me puzzled a couple times.

The plot is well-designed, with plenty of action and suspense that will keep you turning pages. Fans of historical/paranormal mysteries will especially enjoy the spiritualism and asylum elements here, climaxing in Henrietta’s harrowing scene at the end. The author also leaves us with a tasty little morsel on the very last page which foreshadows the next entry in the series (I think!).

Michele Cox is an author new to me, and my experience with A Child Lost will make me find her earlier books. Fans of Sarah Rayne and M.J. Rose will enjoy this.

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