In Plain Sight (DI Clare Mackay #2) by Marion Todd
Genre: Crime fiction, Police procedural
Read: 31st May 2020
Purchase: Amazon
(publication date: 20th February 2020)
★★★★ 4 stars
DI Clare Mackay is back in the second book of this exciting Scottish police procedural series by Marion Todd, set in and around St Andrews. I enjoyed the first book "See Them Run" but I liked this one even more and having now finished it, I am looking forward to the third installment.
Clare Mackay has recently returned from a brief holiday in France and is attending a fun run with her DS, Chris West, one Sunday afternoon when she hears a scream in the crowd. All eyes turn to a young woman screaming that someone's taken her baby.
Lisa Matthews stands by an empty pram, her six month old daughter Abi has been abducted. Clare immediately organises a search and calls in for back-up but to no avail. The search is ramped up when it is revealed that baby Abi has congenital heart disease and needs specific medicine twice a day or she will die. The parents are frantic with worry, while the team follow leads and chase up suspects in the hope of finding Abi in time.
Added to Clare's workload is a young journalist who is to shadow her for "a day in the life of" kind of police and media relations thing. She has no time or patience to babysit someone who barely looks old enough to shave and delegates her more menial tasks for him to undertake...after all, she is also understaffed so she may as well utilise him. Then there is the entrance of DCI Tony McAvette, a definite thorn in Clare's side, whose primary concern is how solving this case will look on his CV when he submits his application for Superintendent. Never mind that he is there to supposedly head up the investigation yet he leaves all the work for Clare and her team to do while he intends to take the credit.
As the investigation delves deeper, the team uncover some questionable aspects concerning the parents. Are they hiding something? If so, what? Do they know more than they are letting on? Then two days after Abi's abduction, Lisa disappears and the team find themselves looking not only for Abi but her mother as well.
Then a witness comes forward with some information about the abduction which has Clare re-evaluating the direction of the investigation.
IN PLAIN SIGHT is a clever and well-plotted story that is so involved and often complex but completely engrossing from start to finish. I read this book in a day.
I love how Clare and her team are completely personable characters without the bitchiness and back-biting often seen in police procedurals. They are all likable and they have a camaraderie that make them work well together. The exception to this is, of course, the DCIs that are brought in with each case as Clare is just a DI and the investigation needs to be overseered by a DCI. Why doesn't Clare just get promoted to DCI so she had head her own investigations? lol
I also loved the return of Benjy, who I had to refresh my memory where he fit into things. But it was good to see him again and I look forward to seeing more of him!
A cracker of police procedural, IN PLAIN SIGHT follows on from the first book - though it can be read as a standalone - and is proof positive that the Clare Mackay series is one to watch.
An entertaining and captivating read, I have no hesitation in recommending IN PLAIN SIGHT to any fan of crime fiction and police procedurals.
I would like to thank #MarionTodd, #NetGalley and #Canelo for an ARC of #InPlainSight in exchange for an honest review.
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