Ali Harper

Lee Winters and her friend, Jo just opened a new detective agency in Leeds. No Stone Unturned. They plan to specialize in finding missing persons. After five weeks and a few days of no real business, their first customer walks into the office. Susan Wilkins wants the duo to find her son, Jack. He's 22 and Susan thinks he's fallen in with the wrong crowd. Seems like a simple enough case. Little do they realize how complex and dangerous their first assignment will turn out to be. Drug dealers, hidden cash, dead bodies....not to mention lies....lots and lots of lies.

I enjoyed this book. There is plenty of action, some humor thrown in, and serious sleuthing. The main characters are strong, intelligent women. They get in over their head fast, but they don't run. They power through and stick with the case. The pacing is perfect and the story kept my attention from start to finish.

The Disappeared is Ali Harper's first novel. I will be on the lookout for more from this author. This was an enjoyable first book. Can't wait to see what else she publishes!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Harper Impulse via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**… (mehr)

An entertaining and fun mystery about a pair of female amateur private investigators whose first case involves a missing student, drug dealing and a stash of cash. Surely a pebble in the ocean (or River Aire!) for the ‘No Stone Unturned’ Detective Agency? 😉

Although I did find this story quite engaging and very readable, it does get a little slapstick at times. The plot is somewhat madcap, not always believable, and the two sleuths seemed as daft as brushes (well, it is set in Yorkshire hence the phrase!). However, it does make for light-hearted reading, with one or two dark moments, and it contains quite a lot of humour. I can see it making a good TV series/adaptation. I was attracted to this book as it is set in Leeds, the city where I was born (Leeds Maternity Hospital that was) and brought up (Adel). It was great to recognise place names so that I could easily visualise where the action was taking place, even the seedier parts!

All in all an enjoyable, undemanding and fast paced read which kept me turning the pages. A good debut novel.… (mehr)

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

Lee and her friend Jo have just set up a missing persons' bureau and their first client asks them to find her estranged son Jack. Lee and Jo are likeable but pretty incompetent and seem to have unlimited amounts of petrol money without needing actually to earn anything. (At one point Lee refers to herself as a trust fund kid, which seems a bit of an exaggeration for some one who inherited £100,000).

I found this to be an easy, fast-paced read, firmly grounded in its Leeds setting, although it did require a certain amount of suspension of disbelief:

SPOILERS

an undercover police officer would seek help from novice private detectives??

I also struggled a bit with the fact that Jo and Lee were happy to work on a case which was basically about helping a drug dealer pay back his supplier money he owed. I did enjoy Brownie and Aunt Edie though.… (mehr)

(I received an ARC in exchange of an honest review)
3.5 Stars
This book had been on my TBR for a long time. I really wanted to read it and I was not at all disappointed to read it. It was a great effort in YA genre. The main character was okay and i found it a bit dragging at one or two points. But apart from that it was a good book with an interesting story line. The book got better as the story continued. The plot was very well written and kept my attention into it. Vocabulary of the book was really good as well. No doubt the author has some really great writing skills ! I must say i gave 3.5 rating for the story but for the writer herself i would love to give 5 stars. She has some great potential for sure. !
Tbe book was a cliffhanger in the end so I ll be definitely looking forward to read the next book.… (mehr)