Reinforced by looking after Sophie’s daughter, I think it demonstrated how detached Mila had become to everyone around her – symbolised by how few friends she has and the suspicions she has of so many. This is my second read by this author but I certainly did not connect with the narrative like I did previously. Although this starts a bit slowly and feels slightly disjointed this soon settles into a really compelling slow burner mystery that I thoroughly enjoy. What did his wife think was going on when he persuaded her to impersonate the wife of the archaeologist (and wear a disguise that looks nothing like the wife) at Ceci's firm and hire them to investigate him over a possible affair?

The story is interesting and well written but a little slow in places and I couldn’t connect with the characters none of them were very likeable and left me a bit empty. The author paints a wonderfully descriptive portrait of the countryside in costal Brittany and I could imagine myself sitting in the café’s watching the world go by.I found this a slower burn than her previous books but by the middle of the book I couldn't put it down. Set in the fictional town (but based on Carnac) of Morranez on the coast of Brittany, France I found this quite a slow burn at the start of the book but it certainly moved a lot faster as the book progressed. I enjoyed reading about Mila and thought she was a great character, but I do feel that this book was let down by the other characters. Firstly, I did not understand Mila’s obsession with connecting with Gosia’s son after her unexpected death.

Someone is trying to ruin his reputation and Mila thinks that there is a connection between Gosia and the professor. She also works at the families investigation business one night when Anja her niece it’s late getting home she goes out to look for her and find her sitting next to a horse trailer with the vagrant lady. It’s clear that malevolent forces are at work in Morranez, but the local police are choosing to look the other way. My second book, Missing You, won the RNA Readers' Choice Award, and my third, The Secrets Between Us was a 2012 Richard and Judy Summer Read.That said the story is not about him at all, so for entertainment I highly recommend this for a great escapism read. From the beginning I thought that something felt ‘off’ with the narrative and I think I could put this down to two reasons. She also takes us back to Sophie and Mila growing up here as teenagers with a group known as the ‘band sauvage’ .

But everything changes when an old traveller woman dies in suspicious circumstances and then a campaign of hate seems to drive another victim to suicide. AD* | A notebook full of secrets, two untimely deaths – something sinister is stirring in the perfect seaside town of Morranez.

It’s not often I finish a book thinking I’d like to meet a character and I did wish I could sit and chat with Gosia. I didn't understand Mila's motivations in digging into the death of the traveler woman beyond a good-faith effort to contact her son. Fans of Louise Douglas’ heartwarming stories infused with mystery and sprinkled with a touch of history will not be disappointed. What did she think when posters went up all over town of this photo, implying that the man was some sort of sexual deviant, having an affair with a student? I didn't get why the wife of the missing man trusted Mila, a random stranger with ties to the agency that damaged his reputation, or why Mila felt it was her responsibility to sort that out too.

It is something of a slow burn and despite this I was immediately drawn into the tale that had begun to unfold. There are many subplots going on in the background which are eventually entwined as each of their tendrils run into the other. Various seemingly disconnected plot points were raised but again, without ratcheting up the suspense, there was no build-up to the climax. Added to the mix are the stories going around town about the Professor which will surely discredit him and ruin his reputation. But first when an old traveller woman dies in suspicious circumstances, and then a campaign of hate drives another victim to take his own life, events take a very dark turn.

The mystery is interesting but goes off tangent with Mila continually having conversations with her dead sister throughout. The last few chapters were real page turners and these are what bumped this up from a three star read to a four star read for me. My favourite character was Malgorzata ‘Gosia’ Kowalczyk, the eccentric old traveller woman living in the back of a converted horsebox. The police think that Gosia just died but Mila is not happy with that, she intends to investigate when she finds out that Ani tells her of a book that the old woman had, it cannot be found.