Private View — Meg Elizabeth Atkins

An unfinished case is always frustrating for the police, and Detective Chief Inspector Sheldon Hunter is no exception. The murder of a local art gallery owner in Chatfield after a private viewing one night in February 1986 and the theft of the painting on display had Hunter stumped. After months of enquiry, every possible avenue had been checked and checked again, and still the investigation had turned up nothing. No suspects, no murder weapon, no painting and, indeed, no artist. Reluctantly, with no leads to pursue, the case is filed - unsolved.

Four years later, however, it seems that not everyone has forgotten the murder. When DCI Hunter receives a series of anonymous letters and phone calls alleging the involvement of a family from a nearby market town in the death, his interest is piqued and he decides to take a look. The Saddler family are well-heeled and an established fixture in the town - unremarkable on the surface but as Hunter digs around he discovers that their son, Ian, is missing and his mystery caller is convinced it has something to do with the artist, Fayne. Can Hunter get to the truth before someone else gets hurt?