Straw in the Wind: British detective fiction at its best

A suspicious death, a missing girl, and very few leads... New Forest police are grasping at straws

Whilst Detective Inspector Callum MacLean is settling into his new role in rural Hampshire, a young woman is found dead in the neighbourhood, her identity unknown.

For a close-knit community where everyone knows everyone else, this seems very odd, but when a local child goes missing shortly afterwards, panic sets in.

It's not the first such case for the Scottish inspector, yet the last one in Glasgow ended in tragedy. This is personal. And when Callum's team don't share his sense of urgency, he will have to put his foot down.

It doesn't help that Sergeant Daisy Donaldson, with whom Callum had developed a rapport, has doubts about his theories. Like the weather, relations are becoming stormy.

As the search gets underway to find the little girl, last seen feeding her ponies, all potential suspects have rock solid alibis. The only lead is a white van seen near the area in both cases.

Yet Callum begins to fear they might not be the only ones looking for the missing girl. Will they find her before tragedy strikes again?

STRAW IN THE WIND is the second standalone detective mystery by Carol Cole featuring DI Callum MacLean. Look out for the bestselling first book, MURDER IN THE NEW FOREST. Great for fans of Rachel McLean, J.R. Ellis and LJ Ross!