Max is in town, performing in a pantomime. Edgar is doing his policeman thing and doesn't have much time to visit. Even what time he had, he loses when two children come up missing. The whole force is out there looking for them but they are afraid of what they will find. It's snowing and the weather is bad.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published October 18th.
A dog walker finds the children far away from where they were last seen and dead. But not dead from the cold. They've been strangled. They've also been buried with candy.
They had said they were going to the candy store but the store owner said they never made it. One of the detectives thinks he's guilty, but he's the only one. As they try to find the killer, they have trouble developing a motive. It wasn't a sexual assault. Why kill them?
Max believes the candy was a misdirection to throw them off. Edgar keeps that thought in mind and pretty much agrees with it but he knows he's missing something. It isn't until Ruby comes to visit and tries a magic trick on him that he remembers what he missed.
Ruby is Max's daughter but they just met a bit ago and don't know each other well. Max is nice to her but standoffish. Edgar is in love with her but doesn't talk about with Max. And the new detective on the force is female and has a big crush on Edgar. She blows Ruby off like she's a piece of fluff. It should be fun to see how that develops in the next book.
The killer was a surprise and more than one family is broken by the disaster. Edgar ends up being a hero but that wasn't what he wanted. He just wanted to save the third child that was kidnapped.
There's plenty of action, interesting detail about pantomimes and performers, and I'm ready to read the next book in this series. These people lead interesting lives.
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