A student goes missing and, six months later, a charismatic publisher also disappears from a family empire with too many secrets. Someone then starts broadcasting a podcast revealing intimate details of an active police investigation to a growing online audience, leaving Detective Inspector Barton questioning everything he thought he knew.

Max Delgado was the most celebrated independent publisher in the West Country and a well-known character across the whole publishing industry, flamboyant, beloved, everyone wanted to know, and be known by, Max Delgado. Max was opinionated and made as many enemies as he did friends, including Victoria Berger. Victoria saw the opportunity to acquire the slowly failing Eucalyptus Publishers for her family's media empire and bring it into the twenty-first century. The only book they kept on the publishing calendar was Homegrown Science, a work in progress written by Amelia and her good friend Miranda. Victoria dismissed the old staff and brought in new talent to bring new energy to Eucalyptus. As Barton and Brooks investigate the two disappearances, they start to uncover stories about both Max and Rosemary. Then they come across a podcast that had already started broadcasting details of the investigation to thousands of listeners that they had not yet found.

Perfect for fans of Richard Osman, Ann Cleeves and Elly Griffiths — for anyone drawn to mysteries where community ties run deep, secrets surface slowly, and the detective feels the weight of every case long after it closes.

The Publisher is the second book in the Barton & Brooks Cosy Mystery series, set in and around the historic city of Exeter and the beautiful Devon estuary. Book One, The Antiquarian, is available now. Book Three arrives in 2027.