Mila is all set to return home to Brittany after a visit to her family when her detective agency gets a new case. A vulnerable young woman has been manipulated into running away and her poor health means she is in extreme danger. Can Mila find her in time…?
The Summer of Lies is a mystery drama novel set in the UK and France. It is the second book in a series but I have not read the first (it therefore works perfectly well as a stand alone book as I was not aware of any spoilers).
Mila is a young woman with a complex family situation. Her parents split up and she lives in France, caring for her orphaned niece but also trying to negotiate the complicated emotions of her own grief. She has gone to visit her mother in England – which is quite an uncomfortable experience – and is ready to return home to normality when she is entrusted with finding a missing woman.
I felt desperately sorry for Briony who has been blighted by illness her entire life. Her new friendship has offered her the chance to be free of her over-protective parents and I didn’t blame her at all for seeking freedom and friendship wherever she could find it. However, her saviour is a woman with an unsavoury past and running away puts Briony in danger. I was keen for Mila to ensure Briony was safe but also worried that returning home was also dangerous.
There is plenty of mystery and the author adds different dimensions to the plot with the inclusion of the Mila’s sister’s death. However, I found that this made the pace of the book quite slow. Mila’s family situation is explored at the start and took me a while to get it straight in my head (I wonder if this is explored in the first book?) The settings bring the plot to life and are depicted vividly. I liked Mila’s character and wanted her to succeed in her personal and professional endeavours.
The Summer of Lies is an entertaining mystery novel.
The Summer of Lies
The summer is the hottest yet in the Brittany coastal town of Morranez, but when a new case lands on the desk of the Toussaints detective agency, there can be no time to relax. As wild fires bear down on the town, the alert goes out for a missing girl.
Nineteen-year-old Briony Moorcroft has seemingly been taken from her sleepy Welsh village and brought to France. Her parents are baffled and scared – Briony needs her life-saving medicine or this case will become even more sinister, and with the police dragging their heels, the Moorcrofts are relying on Mila Shephard and Carter Jackson’s sleuthing skills.
Meanwhile there are mysteries troubling Mila’s life too. Two years after the accident that swept her sister Sophie and brother-in-law Charlie away and left their daughter Ani in Mila’s care, new evidence resurfaces that makes Mila doubt everything.
Can Carter and Mila find Briony before it’s too late? And is the truth about Sophie and Charlie finally about to be revealed…
Louise Douglas is the bestselling and brilliantly reviewed author and an RNA award winner. The Secrets Between Us was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. She lives in the West Country.
