The One That Got Away by JD Kirk

 

Detective Inspector Heather Filson's life isn't great at the moment.  She was recently demoted from DCI to DI and now reports to a man who doesn't have a clue how to solve crimes.  Her father is living with her as he is in the early stages of dementia and she doesn't know what to do about that yet.  Then there is the murders.  Two girls have been kidnapped and one has been found murdered.  All the clues match up with crimes that happened when Heather was a child, although it was thought that crime had been solved.  That killer had kidnapped Heather when she was five but she managed to get away and survived although with serious physical and psychological damage.

The latest girl who has disappeared is the granddaughter of the city's most ruthless crime boss.  That adds more complexity to Heather's life as she has to convince him that the police will take care of this and that having his men maul suspects to try to get answers is just slowing down the process.  Will Heather find the killer before more girls go missing?

This is the first novel in the Heather Filson series.  JD Kirk is a Scottish writer and his DCI Logan series and his Robert Hoon series are both bestsellers.  Heather is a believable character with understandable flaws and issues.  As she works through the crime, it brings back memories from her own past which she is now adult enough to understand and process and which help her solve the crimes.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.