EVERY WAKING HOUR

A child’s disappearance triggers dark memories for a Boston cop.

Ellery Hathaway’s idyllic day with her lover, Reed Markham, and his young daughter, Tula, at Boston Common turns horribly wrong when 12-year-old Chloe Lockhart, another Common visitor, goes missing. Ellery, a Boston police detective, and Reed, an FBI Special Agent, take on the investigation. It’s a red flag when Chloe’s father, Martin, calls his attorney, Stephen Wintour, into a meeting at the police station. Chloe’s well-paid nanny, Margery, who was supposed to be watching the girl, is the first to fall under scrutiny. Then Chloe’s mother, Teresa, drops a bombshell: Several years ago, while she was married to her first husband, her son was kidnapped and killed. Ellery and her partner, Dorie, begin their probe with Margery’s husband, Frank, who has a criminal record, then move to Chloe’s parents. Meanwhile, Reed uses his considerable resources to get to work profiling. An anonymous tipster claims that Martin’s having an affair with his employee Amanda McFarland. The story follows a traditional template as the sleuths question Chloe’s friends, scour her room for clues, delve into her online activity, and follow every obscure lead that promises to lead them to yet another. Schaffhausen’s prose is similarly measured and deliberate. Shadowing the investigation is Ellery’s painful past, which is doled out in tidbits.

A solid but formulaic procedural that should satisfy the heroine’s fans but may frustrate newcomers.