Don’t expect a cosy rural crime thriller – the valley of the title is actually a street in suburban London. On the one hand the book is a psychological study of the hopes and fears of the families who live in The Valley, but it is also a tense abduction mystery. Lucy Grainger has gone missing and the police suspect John Flood, the long term friend of Lucy’s husband, Max. Flood is interrogated by the police, but when they reluctantly turn him loose, he decides to investigate Lucy’s disappearance – and possible murder – himself. Our writer Spriteby gave the book top marks in her review of August 2014.