I read this latest in the Morton Farrier series with interest as, at the end of the previous volume The Spyglass File, the character was about to travel to the USA and try to find his father, the eponymous character of the title here. Morton, a genealogist, had discovered as an adult that he was adopted by his mother's brother and wife, and that his 'aunty' was really his mum. His father was an American who had visited England as a young lad and never knew that he had fathered a child. For Morton's father disappeared shortly after a fire which burned down the family home and killed his father - or so it seems.

The story was as the last volume, quite a good page-turning read, where the author switches between time zones - in this case, the 1970s when his father, Jack, was a young man starting to suspect that his parents have been living a lie, the 1950s when Jack's parents were participating in events that would lead to eventual tragedy, and 2016 when Morton is in the USA researching, while on a 3 week holiday with his tolerant policewoman wife Juliette.

I enjoyed this novella almost to the end, but then there was what I can only consider a cheat - Morton had found a record of his grandfather's divorce from his first wife, and he even protests such when he is eventually told there was no divorce, but the person who tells him does not explain how that record could exist. It would have made sense if Jack's parents had been in a witness protection programme - then false records could have been created. As it was, I just couldn't credit the reasons lying behind the behaviour of Jack's parents, and it was all a bit too melodramatic. Hence only a 3 star rating this time. ( )

For those of you who have been following Nathan Dylan Goodwin's character, Morton Farrier, Forensic Genealogist, you are in for a treat! After four books detailing his family research adventures for paying customers, Morton has finally gotten serious about finding out all about his own mysterious biological father and his extended family. I especially appreciate not having any violent episodes in the book but know some will miss the suspense that they create. Trust me, you still will not be able to put it down!

Last night I was dog-tred but thought I'd read a few pages of Nathan Dylan Goodwin's latest novella, The Missing Man: A Morton Farrier novella, before retiring. Well that was the end of my early night.

The book was unputdownable, I just had to keep on reading right up to the last page. I don't know if Nathan has excelled himself with this latest adventure of Morton Farrier or, now that I have read all the previous stories, I am so familiar with the characters that they are like old friends and I have to keep up with their latest exploits but this story drew me in, I just couldn't put it down.

As with his other books I think that Nathan needs a bit of assistance to develop more attractive covers and layouts but one shouldn't judge this book by its cover.

In this tale we join Morton and his now wife, Juliette, on their honeymoon in Cape Cod. As well as honeymooning with the ever patient Juliette Nathan takes the opportunity to try and track down his American biological father. As we join Morton on this journey we learn about US research and repositories and are with Morton when he meets various members of his extended biological family.

The characters in this story are believable and the mix of dialogue and prose seems to work well. Nathan's writing has developed and improved in this work.

I would recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. Thanks Nathan for producing such a beaut story and for providing me with a review copy. I hope that there is another Morton Farrier story coming out soon. ( )