Watch the video review here: https://youtu.be/JZZg4PMQUkc
Local Gone Missing, by the British journalist and author Fiona Barton, takes on the mystery sub-genre of the small town where everyone has a secret… and everyone could be capable of the murder that dominates the story. The novel is set in Ebbing, an English seaside village where the locals are aghast as wealthy Londoners are taking over and ruining everything by buying up all the nice houses and bringing their city ways to their tight knit community.
The book is a split narrative, with Dee, 
a housecleaner, telling the story in the first person, while everyone else is in the third person. It’s not entirely clear why Barton made this choice, but by making Dee into the “I” of the story, we get to see the town from her perspective. And, she’s in everyone’s house as a cleaner, so she has the inside scoop on most of the town’s goings on.
The “local” who has “gone missing” is Charlie Perry, a seventy-something bon vivant about town who raises money for good causes and befriends everyone. He appears to have money, though a closer look at his situation reveals trouble on that front. He and his wife Pauline, who’s having an affair, have gotten in over their heads restoring an old house.
A music festival, detested by the locals as the worst of the weekender invasion, results in two nearly fatal drug overdoses. Meanwhile, Charlie, who was spotted briefly at the festival, has disappeared.
Elise, a police detective on medical leave for chemotherapy in Ebbing, takes an interest in Charlie’s disappearance, despite the fact that she’s not officially on the force. She teams up, Thelma and Louise style, with her bored, busybody neighbor, Ronnie, to solve the mystery. In the process, Elise discovers Charlie’s body in the cellar of his home improvement nightmare.
Who done it? As local gossips go wild with speculation, Elise and Ronnie try to help Elise’s former police partner, detective Caro, solve the crime. There are suspects aplenty. Everyone has something to hide, especially Dee and her suspicious, potential lowlife husband, Liam. But, they aren’t the only ones, and you spend the whole book scratching your head and wondering just how it could have all gone down.
Barton does a good job of building up the suspense and sense of mystery. You care about her characters, and fine yourself pulled into the town where everyone is seething and suspicious of their neighbors. Charlie had a lot to hide, it is slowly revealed, and you start to be glad that someone did him in.
My only criticism of this book is that it feels as if there are perhaps a few too many characters. (and maybe one too many coincidences.) In several places, as I started reading a chapter, I had to ask myself, “Who is this, again?” I had trouble keeping track. There’s also that British writing style, which I don’t care for, where it’s not quite clear who is doing or saying something. I had to read a few pages twice to get it straight. Maybe I’m just stupid. There’s always that.