Title: Files of the Missing
Subtitle: Book 2 – Gray and Armstrong – Private Investigations
Author: Eve Grafton
Publisher: XlibrisAU
Pages: 276 Genre: Fiction / Crime / Cozy Mystery
Reviewed by: Jake Bishop

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Private investigation is a friends and family affair in this collection of adventures that seem to multiply exponentially in various parts of England. The P. I. firm that is in the midst of it all is Grey and Armstrong. Their little group is made up of Percy Gray, a retired police officer, James Armstrong, a fellow with a law degree but without a law practice, Kate Langford, an ex-police woman, and James’s wife, Alicia. Before this novel’s end, their team goes through some personnel changes, as the firm gets involved in all manner of unusual and sometimes bizarre activities.

It all starts when an overworked and flu-imperiled police force needs some assistance on the Isle of Wight. James’s crew is asked to oversee an unofficial delegation from India. It turns out that one of the delegation members is a mate from James’s Oxford days. Coincidence—perhaps not—and might it have something to do with a recent international passport scam?

Simultaneously, the crew becomes involved with a former adolescent friend of James’ wife. The woman has fallen on such hard times that she’s desperate enough to leave her young child with them. Addiction to drugs has complicated the woman’s life beyond control. As they look for ways to help, different members of the team take on the role of surrogate parent to the child as rumors of possible prostitution, perhaps even pedophilia are looked into.

Just as quickly, a case develops around the disappearance of a young woman. Is it a straightforward incidence of abduction? Has the girl run away from home? Is her father’s recounting of events truthful? Is there a lot he’s not sharing with the investigators? Superior sleuthing leads to a story of family tragedy no one could ever have imagined.

Two more odd cases raise their heads that the firm is asked to look into. One involves a man who seems to be dining at a number of restaurants around town and managing to skip out every time without paying his bill. Another involves a young wife who fears that her husband may be sneaking out at night to train with a terrorist group. And the action doesn’t end there. Before you know it, Grey and Armstrong are looking into the existence of a potential serial killer who plies his trade in hospitals and senior living facilities. Just when you think nothing else could possibly arise, the story comes full circle, as the firm becomes a target of revenge from the jailed leader of the passport fraud and his gangster brethren.

Author Eve Grafton keeps her chronicle cruising at an easily readable pace. She’s as concise at examining the interpersonal relationships between the members of the firm as she is in outlining the innovative ways they go about solving various mysteries. While there is nefarious and sometimes sordid behavior involved on the part of ruffians and miscreants, she never lets her prose or dialogue sink to the level of profanity or vulgarity. Hers is a narrative that you don’t see as much of these days, one that is both intricately conceived and family friendly. Perhaps that’s what makes it most appealing.