The Missing Place

July 21, 2014
Two women from opposite ends of the country, and the socioeconomic spectrum, join forces in a desperate race to discover what happened to their missing oil rig worker sons in this moving mystery from Edgar-finalist Littlefield (House of Glass). Until Colleen Mitchell, the superficial wife of an attorney living in a pricey Boston suburb, and Shay Capparelli, a financially strapped California single mom and spitfire, meet in desolate Lawton, N.Dak., each believes her son to be the only one missing, an error neither stonewalling local police nor the boys’ safety-be-damned employer Hunter-Cole Energy chooses to correct. Combining their complementary skills—Shay’s doggedness, Colleen’s diplomacy—the mothers start to make some headway, but that may not be enough to outmaneuver the forces trying to stymie them (or to overcome their simmering mutual distrust). While some plot twists aren’t so surprising, Littlefield maximizes the emotional impact of her character-driven cautionary tale. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary Agency.

October 1, 2014
A dark tale of two mothers seeking their sons, dead or alive. Lawton, North Dakota, may be remote but it's bursting at the seams with young men eager to cash in on the latest oil strike. Consultants and the occasional visitor compete for rooms at the packed hotels, while rig workers grasp a few hours of sleep in impersonal barracks constructed by the oil companies. Of course, most of the men leave within weeks, either worn down by the grueling pace or frustrated by the dearth of women. A few flee the danger of limbs mangled in the machinery-or worse. But two have simply disappeared. The police have little interest in, or manpower available for, tracking down Paul Mitchell or Taylor Capparelli, young men who probably just took off for a warmer climate or easier work. So their mothers take the investigation into their own hands. They are certainly a mismatched pair: Shay Capparelli has survived raising two kids on her own, with little help from their dads or from her bosses, which has left her tough yet brittle. Colleen Mitchell, accustomed to East Coast affluence, trusts blithely in her own financial power to bend everyone and everything to her will. Forced to share quarters in an icy mobile home, the women must quickly set aside their mistrust of each other to focus on finding their sons. But the police warn them to stay away from the case, the oil company stonewalls them, and their own pasts toss up personal obstacles. As twist leads to turn, they discover how poverty, greed and jealousy can add up to tragedy. Edgar Award nominee Littlefield (House of Glass, 2014, etc.) deftly contrasts Shay's and Colleen's experiences and prejudices. Although Colleen's rather peevish perspective is wearying, her conflicts with Shay neatly calibrate her troubles with Paul. It's a good yarn, weaving together corporate and personal malfeasance. A satisfying, icy thriller.

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October 1, 2014
Colleen Mitchell arrives in Lawton, North Dakota, without a car or a place to stay. All she knows is that her son, Paul, who works on an oil rig, has been missing for more than a week. She meets Shay Capparelli, whose son, Taylor, worked with Paul and has also disappeared. Shay is from working-class California, and she resents Colleen's attempts to throw her Boston money at the problem. Besides, she knows Hunter-Cole Energy won't talk, and neither will the town's police chief, who is convinced the boys are just sowing wild oats. As the women form an uneasy alliance, Shay reveals her inner Erin Brokovich, while Colleen resents the progress her husband makes at home (with the help of her best friend). Safety violations covered up, mineral rights on a nearby reservationthe evidence against Hunter-Cole is damning, but it brings them no closer to their sons. The nail-biting tension fizzles somewhat when the truth comes out, but this story is really about two mothers who won't give up, and one who can't let go.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2014

Two mothers, one from upper-crust Massachusetts, the other down and out from California, join forces when their sons vanish while working on an oil rig in booming North Dakota. As an Edgar Award nominee, Littlefield knows how to add suspense to her tale of parental anguish. Littlefield will be a featured author at LJ's Day of Dialog.

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