Cath Staincliffe has become one of my favourite authors, mainly for her Sal Kilkenny series.
An amiable private eye in Manchester, Sal juggles life as a single mother with all the usual trials and tribulations whilst solving unusual and rather down-to-earth mysteries for down-to-earth people, and some that prove to be not so down-to-earth. The cases seem simple on the surface (or even unsolvable, as in the case of TOWERS OF SILENCE) but Sal soon finds much more than she bargained for. The story of MISSING I found a cracking read and is thoroughly recommended.
Her BLUE MURDER series (since made into a TV series starring Caroline Quentin)are the similar trials of a woman juggling a career and children and Cath's easy style is eminently readable.
Check out Cath as one of the MURDER SQUAD crime writers group.