The Midnight Hour

This mesmerizing mystery from Chase (The Birdcage) traces the story of an eccentric British family across two decades. In 1998 London, model DeeDee Parker is a loving mother to her biological teen daughter, Maggie, and her young adopted son, Kit. One day, DeeDee disappears from the family’s bohemian home on the Portobello Road without explanation. Maggie, frantic and suddenly responsible for her younger brother’s well-being, takes Kit for a walk, during which a handsome stranger named Wolf rescues the boy from being hit by a car. Wolf and Maggie soon fall into a tentative relationship, and Wolf clues the siblings into his work as an antiques dealer. Flash forward to 2019, and Maggie is a bestselling novelist living alone in Paris. When she learns that a remodel of the family home has unearthed human remains, she returns to London to warn Kit that things are about to heat up. With poetic prose and a sweeping scope, Chase reveals the Parker family’s secrets at a tantalizing pace. The heart of the story, however, lies in Maggie and Wolf’s reunion, which the author portrays with tenderness. Surprising, suspenseful, and heartfelt, this is impossible to forget. Agent: Stacy Testa, Writers House. (Aug.)