Dear Amy By Helen Callaghan

A local schoolgirl Katie Browne has been missing for weeks when Margot Lewis, a full time teacher and agony aunt of the ‘Dear Amy’ advice column in the local paper the Cambridge Examiner, receives a letter:

Dear Amy,

I’ve been kidnapped by a strange man.
I don’t know where I am.

Please help me,
Bethan Avery

In her role as the agony aunt, Margot receives a lot of letters, both people seeking help and from pranksters. Though she suspects that the letter is a hoax, Margot takes it to the police station as a precaution.

Bethan Avery, who went missing twenty years ago, was presumed dead because a bloodied nightdress was found shortly after her disappearance but her body was never found.

As more letters from Bethan arrive, Margot becomes obsessed to find the sender and is convinced that the girls’ disappearances are connected.

These letters cast doubt upon the presumption that Bethan was dead and ignited the attention of criminologist Martin Forrester as the letters contain information that was never made public knowledge and the handwriting on the letters match a sample of Bethan’s handwriting that the police have kept on file since she vanished.

Solving this puzzle could save Katie’s life but it may cost Margot her life when she becomes a target.

Dear Amy has been touted as a haunting first-rate psychological thriller. It was an enjoyable read for me but I found the plot a bit far-fetched but maybe that is because I have basically no knowledge of psychology and how our minds work.