MWA Grand Master Clark (1927--2020) and Edgar finalist Burke's suspenseful sequel to 1975's Where Are the Children?, Clark's first psychological thriller, features Melissa, the daughter of the original book's protagonist, Nancy Eldredge. Now a 43-year-old lawyer and the host of a successful true crime podcast, Melissa is at her mother's home in Cape Cod preparing for her wedding to widower Charlie Miller, whom she met at group therapy, and is looking forward to becoming the stepmother of his not-quite-three-year-old daughter, Riley. The therapy, as well as being back at her mother's, stirs up repressed memories of Melissa's abduction and the abuse she suffered at age three, causing horrific nightmares. After the wedding, Riley disappears while in Melissa's care. As circumstantial evidence against her starts stacking up, she becomes a suspect for the police. Newcomers may have to take notes to keep track of the large cast, including each of their complicated backstories. Though this can be read as a standalone, it will be more satisfying, and perhaps less confusing, for those who have read the original. Agents: Philip and Anne-Lise Spitzer, Spitzer Agency. (Apr.)

How do you extend the oeuvre of a deceased author who mostly avoided continuing characters? Burke, who collaborated with Clark on several novels before her passing, comes up with a most ingenious way. In Where Are the Children? (1975), Clark's very first novel, Melissa and Mike Eldredge were kidnapped by their mother's ex-husband. A generation later, Melissa is a seasoned prosecutor whose high-profile success in getting the murder conviction of an abused woman vacated launched her on a second career as a true-crime podcaster. She's just married geologist Charlie Miller, who's been raising his 3-year-old daughter, Riley, by himself since the accidental death of his first wife, Linda, soon after the girl's birth. History repeats itself in the most traumatic way imaginable three months later when Riley vanishes shortly after Melissa is confronted by an unfamiliar woman at the playground: "I know all about you," the stranger had said. "You're a fraud. And a hypocrite." Since Charlie, who's off on a job in the Caribbean, has a solid alibi, Suffolk County Detectives Heather Hall and Guy Marino perversely fasten on Melissa as their most likely suspect. Worse yet, Grant Macintosh, the friend and former colleague Melissa asks to step in as Charlie's lawyer on his return to Long Island, informs her that his responsibility to Charlie limits the help he can provide her and even the contact he can allow between the spouses. And Charlie himself seems ever more distant from Melissa, who feels painfully ripped away not only from her stepdaughter, but from her family, her friends, and her bridegroom. Whom can she possibly trust at this moment of supreme stress--and will her trust be repaid or betrayed? An expertly twisted sequel fully worthy of its celebrated original. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.