The Girl Who Didn't Come Home, (Paperback)

<p>Mallard W. Benson thought retirement would be simple: early runs, awful coffee, and the quiet hum of a small private investigation agency above a bakery.</p><p>Then Evan Harrow walks through his door.</p><p></p><p>Nearly thirty years ago, Evan's twelve-year-old sister Lily vanished on her walk home from school. Mallard was a rookie cop on the case then-eager, idealistic, and powerless to stop the investigation from going cold. </p><p></p><p>The file was closed, and the family never received an answer.</p><p></p><p>Now the police have given up for good. Evan hasn't. And neither has Mallard.</p><p></p><p>With the help of his sharp-witted assistant Donna Fletcher-a single mum juggling case files and a six-year-old tornado named Becky-Mallard pulls at threads everyone else ignored: hidden letters from a mysterious "H", a sealed basement room beneath a primary school, a wealthy benefactor with immaculate suits and filthy secrets, and a supervising sergeant who buried more than evidence.</p><p></p><p>As witnesses talk and old ghosts stir, Mallard finds himself in the crosshairs of people who have spent decades staying untouchable. </p><p></p><p>Tyres are slashed. Offices are ransacked. Someone quietly approaches Becky at school. </p><p></p><p>The message is clear: drop it, or they won't just tidy up his files.</p><p></p><p>But Mallard has lived with the guilt of failing Lily Harrow for too long. With Donna and Becky increasingly tangled in the danger, he pushes forward-into police corruption no one wants uncovered and a predator who wasn't working alone.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>The Girl Who Didn't Come Home</em></strong> is a gripping Australian crime novel about the cases that never let go, the cost of telling the truth, and the found family you'd burn the world to protect.</p><p>And when an anonymous tip hints that Lily's story is only one part of something much darker, Mallard realises this isn't the end of the investigation.</p><p></p><p>It's the beginning of a war.</p>

• The Girl Who Didn't Come Home, (Paperback)
• Author: Camden Books Publishing
• ISBN: 9781764542586
• Format: Paperback
• Publication Date: 2026-09-01
• Page Count: 178