First time reading this husband and wife collaboration and now wondering why noy read any before?
There is no Crash, Bang, Wallop here but a seriously good immersive strong story about an unhappy Mum of 4 teens/young adults who goes missing the night of her Hubby’s 50th
30 years later and the Slater’s are re united at the village and home they grew up in, none the wiser to the fete that befell their Mum
Then another murder occurs ( making it 3 but will leave it for you to read about the 2nd ) and suspicions start to rise and a new ‘set of eyes’ start investigating
A really, really good police procedural and Whodunit combined with family saga and an underbelly of ‘all is not right, but why?’ made this a relaxing yet invigorating read that was simply a very good book

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this not long before publication day.

This book was HARD to read, so brutal, so much sorry with 2 families intertwined.

READ this it is profound and great! Ha left a scar on my heart. I will keep coming back to this thats for sure

I read this in a day! I have never read any of the Nikki French partnership novels before, but they will certainly be on my list from now on. Although the story seemed slow at the beginning I felt that it was a clever structure in that the pace of the story started slowly but built up in pace throughout until the final chapters were positively racing along. As I said at the beginning of this review I read it in a day…I didn’t want to put it down and as the pace speeded up I even felt my reading speed race along….a really well written thriller.
Thank you Netgalley, publisher and writers..for the ARC ,what might have been a dreary, wet and cold day with no purpose ended up as a day well spent in another reality.

Having followed this brilliant writing duo since their earliest collaborations, I’m always agog when I hear that a new book is in the offing. And this latest more than lived up to expectations.

Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? is a bit of a departure for these authors, both in volume (it’s long — 541 pages) and complexity. A masterfully woven tale of tragedy, secrets and betrayal, it’s an engrossing, multilayered mystery, which despite its length, maintains its intrigue throughout.

The narrative is split over two timelines, some thirty years apart. The first revolves around the mysterious disappearance in a small, English village of mum-of-four Charlotte (Lottie) Salter and the apparently connected suicide of friend and neighbor, Duncan Ackerley.

Three decades later, the Salter and Ackerley children have returned to the village, the Salters to shut down the family home and move their now dementia-ridden father into a care home; the Ackerleys to make a podcast with the intention of absolving their father of Lottie’s murder.

Unraveling the mystery takes on added urgency, when a fresh — possibly linked — tragedy hits the village, and the brilliantly drawn DI Maude O’Conner is drafted in from London to spearhead the investigation.

There is so much to unpick in this story, not least the devastating, long-term impact of Lottie’s unexplained disappearance on her husband and four children. I found this a deeply affecting strand of the narrative.

Weave in the revealing podcast interviews and a handful of meaty subplots, and you have a gripping, impossible-to-put-down read, propelled throughout by the burning need to know Lottie’s fate.

The final twist is genius, a true whiplash moment, revealing a devious, calculating individual, who wasn’t on my radar for even a second.

I’ll be sending my chiropractor bill to Nicci and Sean.

Nicci French is a two author collaboration that I have heard of but never read until this novel. I always approach collaborative novels a little dubiously, wary of spending too much time trying to work out who wrote which character or part of the storyline but I managed to avoid that with this. Instead I read it like I was supposed to, concentrating on the disappearance of Charlotte and the decades long impact on her family.
The first part of the novel, when Charlotte disappeared and the body of Duncan was found was one which did take me a while to get into. Nothing to do with the storyline as such but more the way I felt towards the characters. Alec and most of the local police force were grotesque and I struggled with Etsy’s siblings, friends and neighbours. As this part of the novel progressed I did have increasing sympathy for Paul, very much a character who appears less than the others.
When Maud appeared I appreciated this novel a lot more. Brought into the area from another force after the police were found to be inept in the original investigation I found her very open and determined. She was more than prepared to stand up to the members of the local police who in my option were in the wrong job. I also thought that with her appearance I had more liking for Etty and her immediate family. In particular Penny, her sister in law who had the thankless job of caring for Alec as his health deteriorated.
The investigation itself was one that I couldn’t even begin to work out. When the truth was revealed it was a complete surprise and I found myself analysing and eventually seeing what I missed a few days after finishing.
I would definitely read more by Nicci French again, especially after reading that Maud will be appearing in future novels.

Once again, another great read from Nicci French. Full of intrigue and mystery, the power of grief and the effects it has on the ones left behind. Great characters, but Maud was the best, bringing everything together. Highly recommend,

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy in return for an honest review.

I’ve been reading Nicci French’s novels for many years and have loved most of them. Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter begins when mother of 4 Charlie goes missing on the night of her husband’s 50th birthday. A few days later a family friend’s body is discovered but Charlie is never found.
30 years later Charlie’s children reunite at their family home at the same time that a podcast looking into Charlie’s disappearance is released.
This is a slow burn thriller that took me a while to get into but once I did I found it to be a completely gripping and compelling read. The authors explore the impact of grief and loss on Charlie’s children and how loss fractures a family. I loved the character of Maud, the detective brought in to reopen the case 30 years later and although it’s something we are aware of I was appalled and angry at the treatment of female colleagues within the police force,
This is a very clever, multi layered thriller that I would highly recommend. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.
4.5 stars

I have always loved thrillers but somehow or other I have never got around to reading a Nicci French book. I am looking forward to reading her other work as this book had me gripped.
As the title suggests, Charlotte Salter has disappeared. Her disappearance was followed by the death of a neighbour. The police give up on both cases coming up with a very implausible theory. This leaves two families with no closure especially the family of Lottie where there is no body.
30 years later the children (now middle aged) of the two families return. The Salter family need to pack up the house as their father now has dementia and cannot look after himself. The family of the dead man decide to make a podcast to see if they can trigger memories. This leads to another terrible death.
Maude from London is brought in to help solve the murder. She is not welcomed by the local police force but despite her own personal problems, she is determined to solve the murder which she feels must be tied up with the deaths 30 years earlier.
I did not guess the ending! Thank you Netgalley for an advance copy of a book that I feel will be a best seller!

For me, I found that it was an exceptionally slow start, but once Maud as the lead inspector comes into trouble shoot the disappearance of Charlotte Slater, the death of Duncan Ackerley, and the murder of Bridget Wolfe who died in a fire, the story ramps up. If the beginning was shorter, this would be a super read, so if you can get past the first part of the book, you will be glad you persevered. The initial investigation was flawed, and the police ineptitude was well written. So I'm in two minds for a scoring as a 3.5 would seem fair, It's not a 4 star for me, so I settled on a 3. In summary, the ending was superb, making up for the slow start. I will read more from the author.
Thanks to netgalley and Tracy's book of the month for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

As my followers may know, novels about missing people are one of my favourite tropes.
This is a very enjoyable addition to that list!
I was hooked right from the start, wondering why Charlotte Salter never showed up to her husband's 50th birthday party, and I loved how all the characters had some level of mystery.
The pacing is fairly consistent, and although I felt a small dip in the middle, it was brought back with the ending.
House of Corrections is still my favourite Nicci French book, but this is a great read nonetheless.

I am a fan of Nicci French but for some reason this book didn’t reach their usual heights for me…I think it was the very slow start that did it. The beginning of the book dragged. That said they built a wonderful atmosphere, and I felt silly immersed in the village. It just seemed to take a long time to get to the interesting bit.

I was glad I carried on as the final part was a good pace and interesting.

The side story of Maud’s failing relationship also felt like it didn’t have enough space, it felt a bit squeezed in and I either wanted it to be removed or for more time to be given to it.

A solid read if a little slow, but not their best for me.

Charlotte (Lottie) and Alec Salter have four teenage children and live in the small village. We meet them on Alex’s 50th birthday where a big evening party is planned for most of the village as well as family. Yet at the beginning of the party there are no Salters Present. Lottie went for a walk and hasn’t returned. Alec did same, but they didn’t go together or in the same direction. Fourteen year old Etty is worried. The last of the Salters and yet to leave home she is starting to panic. If her mum is gone, for whatever reason, that means she had to spend two years at least in the company of her father. Just the two of them. Alone.

In the days that follow as the police investigate, there are rumours that Lottie and family friend Duncan Ackerley were having an affair. Of course it was more widely known that Alec was seeing Mary Thorne, in fact his own daughter heard him on the phone to her from the other line. When the Ackerleys invite them for Christmas Day, only Lottie turns up at first, her brothers are late and Paul is probably giving it a swerve altogether. Yet it would be worse to sit at home, staring, worrying and jumping at every sound. As dinner time approaches, the Ackerley’s start to wonder where Duncan has got to. He’s been out for a walk, possibly down to the boat as there is a super high tide and he needs to move it. It’s Etty and Giles that start to look for him and he does try to shield her eyes as they come closer and see that Duncan is slumped in the water, dead. We move between that night and the Christmas days that follow and twenty years later when all the Salters are once again in residence at the family home. Everything about it is dated and dilapidated, including their father Alec who is succumbing to dementia. Etty, ever the lawyer, is organising his move into a nursing home and the clearance of their parents possessions. For this job she has found a bright and organised woman called Bridget. She gathers the siblings and tells them that the easiest way is for them to put specific coloured post-its on their must have items, then she takes away the rest for sorting, selling and recycling. It’s emotional, especially since there are now only three of them. Their brother Paul never coped with life and the loss of their mother and sadly committed suicide on the anniversary of her disappearance. Meanwhile, now a Tv personality Morgan Ackerley is home to record a podcast on that Christmas, speculating on what happened to Lottie and his father. This is going to stir up the village and make life difficult for both families. When a sudden event leads to yet another death, the police are called and a new detective looks at the old files as well as this new case. Are they linked in some way? Despite her boss seeming to warn against digging up what’s been long buried, this detective is determined to find out what happened to Lottie Salter.

Seeing how much these families have changed over time is so interesting and I found myself wondering how different the Salters and Ackerley’s have been if this crime hadn’t happened. Etty melted my heart a little bit because she’s clearly so close to her mum and on the night of the party she’s the one who’s trying to raise the alarm that something isn’t right. The boys are largely off doing their own thing and seem almost inured to the state of their parent’s marriage. The consensus is they’ve probably had a row, but Etty knows that despite a row, or their dad being on the phone to Mary Thorne at 2am the night before, there is no way that her mum wouldn’t turn up to his birthday party. She has always kept up appearances in that way. She even looks at her father and wonders whether he could have killed her. Her relationship with each parent couldn’t be more different, there’s a distance between her and her father both in the past and the present. In fact he doesn’t seem that invested in any of his children. Yet Etty can still imagine the smell of her mum’s perfume, can imagine what she would be wearing and I could imagine Lottie hugging her daughter, that perfume making up one of the many scents that signify home. With only the boys and her distant father left who will she go to for hugs? I could feel her panic as realises that after Christmas, the boys will go back to jobs and university and she will be left alone with their father for two years. I could then see this huge loss in the adult Etty: an awkwardness about whether the family kiss to greet each other or not; keeping a lawyer’s professional manner at all times meaning she’s the one who does all the organising and finds the house clearance firm. She doesn’t cry, even when finding memories of their childhood. She holds herself stiffly, almost brittle and I wondered how much it would take for her to break.

There are many ghosts here. It’s not just Etty who was changed. They all feel the loss of their brother Paul deeply and he’s the empty chair at the table, even now. They tiptoe around each other, trying not to open old wounds but when a fire is started at the home of their house clearer a new murder investigation is opened. Either the arsonist didn’t realise she was at home, or didn’t care. Was their aim to kill or was it to hide evidence that she’d unwittingly taken into their home? I found this mystery so intriguing that I couldn’t stop reading and I loved the psychological aspects of how these unsolved crimes had affected the families and the village as a whole. There were a couple of crucial points past and present where everyone I suspected seemed to be going for a walk alone - without even having a dog as an excuse! I was suspecting that Lottie’s husband wasn’t as advanced in dementia as she seemed, but couldn’t be sure. The reveals were satisfying, but it was the methods of concealment that really blew me away and I loved how thorough the investigating detective was. She wanted to be sure, whether or not it disturbed or upset some people and I loved that too. Mainly I thought about how the author showed the effects of a crime like this, even years on from the actual incident. These children are all changed forever and the villagers have lived under a fog of suspicion for years. Etty particularly left me thinking of all the events I’ve been able to enjoy with my mum over the last 50 years, that Lottie has missed out on. Finding a balance between the real emotions that surround a crime and creating a page-turning mystery is difficult but here the authors have really pulled it off.

This was a story of two halves, the first halve was told around the time Charlotte disappeared and the fallout around it. The second half was years later and follows the police investigation as they find out what took place.
I must admit that I did think this was going to be a DNF for me as the first part really seemed to drag and it definitely went on longer than needed. The second part really picked up though and it was a lot more interesting I really liked the characters a lot more too they had a lot more depth to them.

Nicci French is one of my all time favourite authors and this one is one of their best! Dark and twisty, emotionally devastating it involves secrets, sex and lies spanning 3 decades. What made it for me was the teenage Etty. Through her emotions i felt as though I really knew her and why she became the woman she did. This story is pretty devastating and it will leave a lasting mark on me. I can't sing its praises highly enough. If you're in a reading slump , this will get you out of it.

I have listened to nearly all Nicci French’s standalone books on Audible, but when I saw they had a new book coming out I couldn’t resist the blurb and needed to read it. I also decided to pick this book as part of my Book of The Month (BOTM) group on Facebook and together with my closest 70 friends (!!) we started the book early February and met on line to discuss it in depth 3 weeks later.

Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter is a dual timeframe mystery about a beloved mother and wife who goes missing on the eve of her husband’s 50th birthday party at Christmas time in 1990, leaving no trace and a devastated family behind in a small village called Glensted.

When the body of a close friend and neighbour, Duncan Ackerley, is found a few days after Charlotte’s disappearance the police are quick to conclude this is a murder/suicide and close the case. However, the children of both families can’t and won’t believe it.

Nearly thirty years later, the children of Charlotte Salter and Duncan Ackerley reunite in the small town for their own personal reasons; The Salter children have returned to assist their father Alec move into a care home as he has dementia, and the Ackerley boys are back to make a podcast in the hope to clear their father’s name and find out what really did happen to Charlotte Salter?

Whilst this is a slow burning mystery, there is now a new police investigation happening since the podcast went live and this is headed up by DI Maud O’Connor who has been sent up from London to try to solve this case.

With many themes running through this family saga/mystery thriller from grief and depression; infidelity and obsession; mental health issues and suicide and dementia Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? spans 30 years in an atmospheric and emotional story and follows the devastating effects the disappearance of one woman has on her family and those around her.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Has anyone seen Charlotte Salter?

A story told 30 years apart, showing the devastating effects of a missing person at the time and years later.
It ticked all the boxes of a family drama and a crime drama for me. Twists and turns kept me turning the pages.

I was lucky enough to attend an author talk by the duo that make up Nicci French, which I can highly recommend if you get the opportunity. Since then I read anything they’ve written and they never let me down! This book feels a bit bleak, but don’t let that put you off. It’s full of the tests and turns that you can expect from Nicci French as well as well built characters that are relatable.

This standalone novel from Nicci French follows the Salter family and the community around them. 30 years ago, Charlotte Salter, much beloved mother and key part of the village that they lived in, went missing.
3 days later, another man in the village drowns in the river. The police are keen to clear the case, and link the two, assuming that he killed Charlotte and then himself. The families are never satisfied with this outcome but have no other recourse to justice.

30 years later, a podcast looks at the case again through a more modern lens; can they find something out that was missed at first?

I found this a slow burn of a book but its well worth sticking with. The first third took me a while to get into. But once it got to the podcast part of the story, I was hooked, and read the last section in a couple of days.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

The story line is great however I found it a little hard to connect to any of the children. Also I found the book a bit slow in the middle. I liked the ending though. A good read but I preferred her previous books.

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ARC.
Set in the mud flats of Norfolk across two time periods, it was really atmospheric and intriguing. Charlotte Salter never arrives at her husband's 50th birthday party... leaving her 4 children confused and bereft and her husband flippant and dismissive. Days later a family friend's body is found...a massive assumption is made and the case is closed... everyone disperses.
Thirty years later as Charlotte Salter's husband's health deteriorates, his children return and the case reopens with another crime and a new badass female detective at the helm.
The characters in the book were great and I was fascinated by the way in which Charlotte's disappearance impacted them so differently. I loved Etty and loathed Alec.
This one is out in 2 days' time and if you enjoy a cold case whodunnit, I'd really recommend this.