The Missing and the Dead (novel)

The Missing and the Dead is the ninth instalment in the bestselling Detective Sergeant McRae series of crime novels set in Aberdeenshire from Stuart MacBride.

Acting Detective Inspector McRae manages to catch Graham Stirling who has kidnapped Stephen Bisset and tortured him. Unfortunately the only way to get Stirling to talk is to break a few rules regarding procedure....

With Professional Standards breathing down his neck, Logan is sent on a development opportunity babysitting a rural patch of north-east Aberdeenshire as a police Sergeant. A child's body, a hopeful mother of a dead girl and Detective Chief Inspector Steele messing things up really do not help Logan settle into his new job. The dead girl's mother (Helen) even moves into Logan's police house whilst he is supposed to be finding out who the dead girl is and who killed her.

Added to this is the prospect of fighting off the son and daughter of Stephen Bisset who want answers from Logan, Graham Stirling being released and twisting the story of Stephen Bisset's death means that Samantha (Logan's girlfriend) is kidnapped while still comatose from the fire in Logan's flat in a previous story.