Ivy, Jane's good friend from college days, has a daughter, Marlene, who has just graduated from high school. Since Marlene has decided to put her college plans on hold for a year, Ivy is eager for her to gain some work experience. She encourages Jane to hire her daughter, saying it would be of mutual benefit. Never having met Marlene, Jane is reluctant, but is persuaded to do so by Ivy.

From the day Marlene arrived, Jane has felt she made a mistake. She does her job, barely adequately, and without enthusiasm. Marlene really only cares about herself, with little warmth or feeling for Nick. Each evening, as soon as she can, she takes off for undisclosed destinations.

When Marlene fails to pick Nick up at school one day, Jane is concerned, but not surprised. A quick search of her room reveals all Marlene's belongings are gone. Jane thinks she has probably taken off, and is secretly relieved, because she was on the brink of firing her anyway. Jane contacts Ivy who insists that Jane should find her and give her another chance. Jane reluctantly agrees.

Missing Marlene has a clever story line. The title character in the book has disappeared. However, the reason for her disappearance is not at all obvious. She could have simply left of her own accord, or she could have been abducted or even killed. Marlene is portrayed as a young lady interested in only one thing – herself. It would not be illogical for her to renege on her responsibilities and leave without notice. It is therefore reasonable for Jane to pursue the investigation of her disappearance without police help. – an interesting way for the author to get an amateur sleuth involved without police intervention.

At the start of the story, Marlene is already missing. Her personality emerges as Jane tries to find out where she has gone. Jane feels guilty for not making more of an effort to get to know her employee, yet Marlene showed no interest in getting to know Jane or Nick. As Jane meets with people who knew Marlene, she begins to understand her better, but she cannot make herself feel any more kindly toward her. It is an interesting method of character development for the character herself only is seen through the eyes of the other characters.

The rest of the characters in the book are not as well portrayed as Marlene and are, in fact, rather abruptly introduced. Although Missing Marlene is a debut novel, at times it seemed more like the middle book in a series.

In order to create some dramatic suspense the author borders on the melodramatic, but he has a decided talent for planting clues throughout the book which will enable the reader to unravel the mystery. They are quite deftly placed, and easily missed. The amateur detective/reader would be well advised to pay close attention to small, seemingly inconsequential incidents and details as these points could be important later on in the story. I failed to recognize several clues and later chastised myself for not reading more carefully.

Using his background in the literary world, Evan Marshall's first book delivers an entertaining read with clever plotting that bodes well for future books in the new series.

--Andy Plonka