Entertaining but a bit scattered. The original case has no real connection to the other women who have disappeared. And why would a man wishing his wife to take great care of herself fail to inform her that one of the people involved in the case had attacked him and warned him off?

I loved this audio version. Rachel Atkins has done an admirable job conveying the emotion and the wide variety of voices. The fifth book in the series finds Louisa and Guy married with a small child. Guy has left the police force and is focusing on the private detective agency the two of them run. Louisa is still caught up in the Mitford family lives as she is called to find the youngest daughter, Decca, who has run away to Spain and join the Communist war efforts in 1937. She plans to marry her cousin. While looking for Decca, Louisa also takes on the case of a missing woman and in the search discovers another missing woman. The search sends Guy and Louisa to France where Louisa hears a startling confession and must decide which is the greater of two evils. ( )

The Mitford Vanishing had a pretty interesting premise, and I really liked the inclusion of the Spanish Civil War in this one, but the mystery took a long time to get going which really affected the pacing of the book. I also think I got caught up in how easily everyone just seemed to jump back and forth from France to England, without a care in the world; I felt like I was reading something a bit more modern rather than something that was taking place only two years before the start of WWII.

I do think the strength of this novel is the character development, but at the same time, it's also its weakness. I enjoyed the relationship between Louisa and Guy and how well they worked together, trying to build a detective agency during this time period. I did feel like the author sometimes struggled trying to create a heroine who was independent, living in England with all of its rules and strictures, rules under which the Mitford sisters rebelled and created all sorts of issues and situations for their very strict parents. While most of the characters are fiction, the Mitford family are actual historical figures and created quite a stir during this time period, something that I don't think goes far enough in this book. Their political associations were quite varied, and Jessica vanishing with a man would have created a huge scandal. Louisa's freedom to investigate, and travel all over the place, seems a bit far fetched to me, considering she is now a mother. I think even the most open-minded male might have trouble swallowing that concept in the 1930s. But, then again, the rules were often far more strict for the wealthy and titled than they were for the lower classes.

While this book is well-written, it is a mystery novel and I felt like nothing really happens until the last third of the novel. Yes, Louisa and Guy were chasing Jessica, but there was another mystery intertwined throughout that story line, and eventually the two merged together, but the getting there was a trial. It's not that I didn't enjoy the search for Decca, but when something is packaged as a mystery novel, the pacing should be somewhat different. I have often wondered if these books would have been better served to have been packaged as just historical fiction, whereby the author could have really focused on the politics of the Mitford sisters, with Louisa intertwined in their struggles, and included the mysteries as a interesting side. The last third of the book suddenly took off, but unfortunately, there were just too many coincidences for it to be convincing for me.

Verdict
The Mitford Vanishing was interesting, but suffered from some pacing issues. And while I enjoyed the search for Decca, I did feel like more emphasis on developing the two story lines early on, and intertwining them a bit more, would have helped with the pacing. And while I enjoyed the character development, I did feel like Louisa was a bit flat in this one, as if the author struggled with Louisa as a mother and Louisa as an independent woman. I continue to read these books as I am interested to see how things will develop as Louisa and the Mitfords enter the WWII era. ( )

Mitford shenanigans!

Ah those Mitfords! If ever a family has had the spotlight cast upon them, this is the one. (Oops! Unless you’re a Royal!) It’s 1937 and Nancy Mitford is worried about the disappearance of her sister ‘Decca’ that is Jessica, (the Communist) in Spain. She asks Louisa Cannon, once the family maid, now a private investigator, to look into her whereabouts. Louisa and her husband, former policeman Guy Sullivan, run Detective Agency, Cannon & Sullivan. Nancy’s parents, Lord and Lady Redesdale (David and Sydney Mitford) join the request for Louisa and Guy’s aid. It appears Louisa and Guy’s inquiry overlaps with a young woman’s body in London and the disappearance of a sailor.
All roads lead to Bayonne, France on the border with Spain. The resolution of the various inquiries keep becoming more complex and intriguing.
I loved the way Fellowes has incorporated history with personalities, giving vivid portrayals of the prevailing politics and actions of the times, and a penetrating fictional / factual look into this fascinating family whilst maintaining a suspenseful and puzzling tale.
The Who’s Who, and Historical Notes at the end are illuminating.

A St. Martin’s Press ARC via NetGalley ( )

This is the first book I read by this author and I really enjoyed it. Louisa and Guy make a great investigative team and then to throw in the Mitford sisters and parents is really fun. This book has Louisa and Guy helping to find a Missing Mitford and another missing woman. There is some action and much thinking. I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will. ( )