WITHOUT A TRACE

Coronation Day, 1953 and in a sleepy Somerset village, young shopkeeper Molly Heywood makes a terrible discovery - her friend Cassie has been murdered, and her six-year-old daughter Petal is missing. Weeks pass but the police make no progress, so Molly, against the advice of a childhood friend and village policeman George, takes matters into her own hands. Clutching a letter sent from Cassie to London, she leaves in search of Petal. In the Blitz-scarred East End, Mollies meets and befriends strangers from Cassie's past, but the big city is a dangerous place for a country girl, especially one on the trail of a murderer. Sacrificing home, happiness and a chance at love to find Petal, is Mollie now risking her life? An epic romantic drama set in post-war London. 423pp, Penguin paperback.