Running For Shelter by Michelle Spring
Laura Principal, Private Investigator, is having the time of her life. Her business and her relationship with her lover Sonny are both flourishing. Then, out of the blue, Laura hears from the girl with whom she shared her adolescence in Bristol. She hasn't heard from Claire for many years and Laura's pursuit of a lost photograph of her, leads her to another lost girl. Delivering a contract to the home of a client, Laura leaves it with a Filipino girl. 24 hours later the girl has disappeared without trace. Laurasenquirires take her from the House of Commons to a middle Eastern Embassy, from Kensington to Earl's Court, from a lovely garden in Kent to a crisis centre in Notting Hill Gate and then back to Cambridge for yet another investigation. Along the way Laura uncovers a trail of injustice, commercial exploitation and neglect. In getting to the truth, she learns 1 or 2 things about herself...