Hushabye by Celina Grace

Celina Grace is a mystery writer who decided to self-publish after fifteen years of striking out in the traditional publishing game.  She is best known for her Kate Redman series which features the female detective sergeant in the UK’s West Country district.

In Hushabye, the baby of Nick and Casey Fullman is kidnapped and their nanny is murdered during the abduction.  Nick Fullman is a successful real estate developer and workaholic.  As Kate and fellow officer Mark Olbeck familiarize themselves with the Fullman family, they find several persons of interest and multiple motives for the crime.  Nick has a dubious past including mob related business deals, a jealous ex-girlfriend and an administrative assistant with a crush on him.  With no ransom demand, no one can immediately be eliminated as a suspect.  Kate feels a personal connection to the case.  As a teenager, she gave up a baby for adoption and the guilt and regret she harbors from this experience leads her down pathways totally ignored by her male colleagues.

I chose this author because her given name, Celina is the same as my hometown, a name you rarely find in the world today.  So with my expectations set appropriately low, I was surprised to discover a reasonably well written novel.  The characters were interesting and well developed and the plot was plausible and complex.  Yet I thought it lacked that something special to draw you in and compel you to keep flipping pages.  It lacked the suspense you feel from the more prominent authors and therefore by comparison made this story seem rather ordinary.