PRESUMED DEAD by SHIRLEY WELLS Review

Kat won a copy of this superb fast paced crime novel by the excellent and
talented novelist Shirley Wells after entering a competition. As I especially
like crime novels/dramas and I am aspiring to become an author myself Kat
let me read this book and it was fantastic.

The book is entitled 'Presumed Dead' which is part of a series of books with
the lead character called Dylan Scott, who was an ex policeman, an ex con
and is now a Private Investigator.

His wife has thrown him out and he has moved into the smallest flat possible
and to make matters worse, his mother has decided to move in with him.
The book starts with Dylan driving to Devon to meet a potential client Holly
Champion. Once there, he is told of her mother's mysterious disappearance
when Holly was but a child.When he realises the dedication Holly has spent
over the years to ensure she has enough funds to pay for an Investigator and
that she simply wants answers good or bad Dylan agrees to take on the case
having first established that it will cost a great deal of money which is
something that doesn't bother Holly. As she has a constant need to know
what had happened to her mother and whether she ran away or worse.
So armed with pictures of Holly's mother, and as much background
information as possible Dylan heads north to the Lancashire town of
Dawson's Clough.

The inhabitants lives are all cleverly interwoven and there are no end of
suspects. Dylan meets with retired D.C.I Frank Willoughby and allows him
to tag along on the case.

The book gives nothing away as to the identity of the murderer until near the
end, but there are plenty of twists and turns along the way to keep the reader
guessing.

The book over time paints a picture of Dawson's Clough allowing the reader
to be able to visualise the town and it's surroundings and every character is
well rounded and leap from the page as solid believable people.

All in all 'Presumed Dead' is a brilliant read, an exciting  page turner that keeps
entertaining from cover to cover.So please don't just take my word for it, go
and pick up a copy of 'PRESUMED DEAD' by SHIRLEY WELLS and read
it and enjoy every single page. I promise you will not be disappointed. You'll
want to read the others in the series. I know I do. So thank you Shirley for
producing such wonderful, work. First class!