The trail

Amateur web sleuthing leads to a real-life investigation for one woman eager to spice up her boring life.

A copy editor by day, Anne Wilson spends her nights online dabbling in cold cases of missing persons under the pseudonym MissNane47. But when she catches wind of a case about a recently divorced mother who’d gone missing seven years earlier, she feels compelled to get involved. Cashing in her vacation days, she hops the border and heads to Poxton, a tiny town nestled in the Adirondack Mountains.

Right from the beginning of the investigation, and despite her status as a quasi-celebrity on the web, Anne has doubts about being able to solve the case. The people involved are closed-lipped, the police chief is standoffish, and many want to leave the case in the past. But Anne doesn’t give up easily, and she knows she’s on to something when she begins getting threatening messages.

Leaving her pseudonym behind and investigating in person could be her biggest mistake...