Nine Missing Girls by Steena Holmes

I’ve always been a fan of short fiction, and I love that murky hinterland between short stories and novels, where the stories connect and bounce off each other, combining into a bigger story. So of course I was drawn to Steena Holmes’ Nine Missing Girls, a set of nine stories exploring connected disappearances being investigated by a detective whose own sister is possibly one of the victims. What surprised me was that these stories aren’t straight police procedural investigations. Rather, they occupy the dark hinterland between crime and horror, or the traditional ghost story — not because of any supernatural elements, but because of the wonderfully dark and creepy atmosphere Holmes constructs.

I enjoyed this, but the stories didn’t always entirely work for me. The detective repeatedly walks alone into potentially dangerous situations; she doesn’t follow up on evaded questions and frustrating “that’s not my story to tell” comments from witnesses; and far too often the detective is the passive recipient of clues dripfed to her by third parties rather than discovered through her own efforts. But these niggles are overcome by that wonderfully creepy atmosphere and the storytelling pace.

Is this a story collection or an episodic, mosaic novel, and does it deliver as either? I like that I’m not really sure: it’s great to see an author exploring form. I’d far rather read a book full of ambition that pushes against genre boundaries, even if it occasionally misfires, than one that plays it safe. So while Nine Missing Girls didn’t entirely work for me, it’s flagged the author as one to watch and explore further.