Review: Hillary's Final Case

Hillary's Final Case by Faith Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Initially, when I saw the title of this installment, I worried that, once more, a favorite series was ending. In truth, there are times when the end, though sad, is appropriate--the story line is getting repetitive, the character's life is not undergoing much more change and it is time to move on. Here neither seemed to be true. Yes, Hillary is still trying to close cold cases and most involve murder but the situations and motives and suspects are all sufficiently different to make for interesting stories. And certainly, Hillary's choice to move in with Steven and off her beloved narrow boat, the Malvern, would involve a titanic change in her personal life.

In this, her Final Case, Hillary , Steve and Rolo , the new Super, Jimmy and Wendy try to locate women listed through the years as Missing Persons. So,the new case is the MisPers file. It is made clear that often the missing person returns home or is found living somewhere else and that just as often the police are not notified of these " solutions '. Yet there are many women who remain unaccounted for. Some are alive but are drug addicts or prostitutes who are not easily found, others are dead and some, not many, have just chosen to leave their old lives and families behind and are perfectly safe but successfully hidden.

This particular line of investigation was instigated by the actions of Jake, one of the interns, in the last book. Jake's stepsister, Jasmine, disappeared eight years ago and he took it upon himself to hack Hillary's case files and contact an underworld mobster with an offer of a million dollars for information on Jas' whereabouts. Having discovered his actions but appointing Jimmy as his shadow, Hillary finally brought the info to Steven and Rolo. It was decided that, since Steven was moving up to take over the investigation and hopefully the imprisonment of the hoodlum's boss, it would be wise to use Jake's improper behavior to launch the full-fledged missing persons' case as a cover to carry it out.

And so, the book carries on a dual plot--the work of Jimmy, Hillary and Wendy and their conversations with friends and family of a select group of women AND the continued interaction of Jake and his informant under the direction and supervision of Hilary, Steve and Rolo. At the end, Jimmy, Wendy and Jake all make life changing decisions, cases are solved and Hilary and Steven move into his big home with the Malvern tied up to dock at the foot of his garden.

Happily, the end also brings the news that the series will continue with a book appropriately called Hillary's Back!

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