Mother Missing: The Cate Austin Casefiles, Book 5

by Ruth Dugdall

Don't miss this gripping thriller from award-winning, Kindle #1 bestselling author Ruth Dugdall. PRE-ORDER NOW! ‘Ruth Dugdall’s novels are intelligent and gripping, with a sophisticated psychological sensibility. She is a huge talent’ Sophie Hannah

'Gripping, original, authentic' Erin Kelly

*****

Probation officer Cate Austin races back to Suffolk, desperate to find her sister, who has vanished from rehab following her abuser's unexpected early parole. Simultaneously, Bronte Lowe, a single mother and former navy officer employed at a nuclear power station, mysteriously goes missing.

In Ipswich, Freya Jones is determined to break her family's cycle of crime and starts afresh with her new boyfriend. His cliffside home appears to be the perfect escape, but Freya soon senses a chilling darkness lurking within its walls.

As Cate's search for her sister intertwines with Bronte's disappearance, unsettling truths come to light, revealing the lengths to which love and desperation can push these three women.

Audible Audio

Expected publication September 24, 2026

About the author

Ruth Dugdall was born in 1971. She holds a BA honours degree in English Literature (Warwick University) and an MA in Social Work (University of East Anglia). She qualified as a probation officer in 1996 and has worked in prison with offenders guilty of serious crimes, including stalking, rape and murder. This has informed her crime writing. Since she started writing, Ruth has won awards in several writing competitions, and has had short stories published in the Winchester Writers' Conference and the Eva Wiggins Award anthologies.

Ruth is also the news presenter on Felixstowe tv: "probably the smallest tv station in the world".