THE STRANGE FATE OF KITTY EASTON - Elizabeth Speller

When Great War veteran Laurence Bartram arrives in Easton Deadall, he is struck by the beauty of the crumbling manor, venerable church, and memorial to the village’s soldiers. But despite this idyllic setting, Easton Deadall remains haunted by tragedy. In 1911, five-year-old Kitty Easton disappeared from her bed and has not been seen since.

While Lawrence is visiting, a young maid vanishes in a sinister echo of Kitty’s disappearance. And when a body is discovered in the manor’s ancient church, Laurence is drawn into the grounds’ forgotten places, where deadly secrets lie in wait.

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Rarely do I read a book that compels me to immediately go out and find the next in series. THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN JOHN EMMETT, the first in the Laurance Bartram series, was one such book. I enjoyed the pace of the book, the character studies, and the bit of mystery that was there. I could only hope that the second in the series would be as superb. And it was.
This one is set a few years after the first book. Laurence has published his architectural book of churches in England and has become a teacher at a local school. He is invited by a friend to come have a look at a church that was discovered to have additional intriguing aspects while being restored. It's part of a larger project Laurence's friend has taken on for a wealthy family in the country.
Laurence arrives to find that the church and the restoration project are indeed intriguing, but not as much as the wealthy family. There is a pall of sadness over the family members, sadness brought on by the unexplained disappearance of a young daughter of one of the two sisters living in the house. The daughter has been missing for some time, since she was five, gone in the middle of the night and never seen again. No one knows if she's alive or dead.
Her mother behaves as if the child will be coming down the stairs any moment. The rest of the family gently enables her belief.
Laurence begins to find information that various members of the family would wish remain hidden. So there is more to the mystery than the disappearance of a young child.
I really cannot wait to read more of this series. I hope the next books comes out soon.

THE RETURN OF CAPTAIN JOHN EMMETT - Elizabeth Speller

London, 1920. In the aftermath of the Great War and a devastating family tragedy, Laurence Bartram has turned his back on the world. But with a well-timed letter, an old flame manages to draw him back in. Mary Emmett’s brother John—like Laurence, an officer during the war—has apparently killed himself while in the care of a remote veterans’ hospital, and Mary needs to know why.

Aided by his friend Charles—a dauntless gentleman with detective skills cadged from mystery novels—Laurence begins asking difficult questions. What connects a group of war poets, a bitter feud within Emmett’s regiment, and a hidden love affair? Was Emmett’s death really a suicide, or the missing piece in a puzzling series of murders? As veterans tied to Emmett continue to turn up dead, and Laurence is forced to face the darkest corners of his war experiences, his own survival may depend on uncovering the truth.

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This could almost be labeled amateur sleuth, but it doesn't have the same feel as others I've read. It felt more like historical mystery along the lines of Maisie Dobbs, written by Jacqueline Winspear. That may only be because of the time the book is set, after WWI.
Soldiers have come home from the war in various states of wellness or injury. This is also a view of the class system in England and the changes that were occurring.
Laurence Bartram is at odds with his life. He's home from the war, his wife and child died while he was fighting. He has enough money to set aside to live reasonably well without having to immediately find a job. He's writing a book about the architecture of the churches in England. Then he hears from the sister of an old schoolmate. Mary wants Laurence to find out why her brother committed suicide. He came home mentally exhausted from the war, but was doing so much better at the convalescent home where he was recovering. Then Emmett's body is found, dead from what looks to be a self-inflicted wound.
Mary thinks that Laurence must have been closer to him than she. Added to the fact that they both fought in the war, maybe Laurence has insight into what might have caused the death.
Laurence and his friend Charles proceed to investigate, finding out more than they originally imagined would be the story.
There's human greed and pettiness causing more grief and death even among the allies.
I loved this slow moving book. I immediately bought the second in the series and I can't wait to read the next.