A Place of Execution

by Val McDermid. I just finished reading this book---had it stashed @ work 2 read on breaks, which may seem a bit rude, but my co-workers are used to it. A teenage girl disappears in 1963 England, the police end up discovering clues that lead them to believe her stepfather has murdered her, even tho they never find the body. They do find the collection of photos he has taken of him with her, showing sexual abuse. It goes to trial & he hangs. Just when I think I have it figured out,they jump ahead 35 years, to a reporter who was about the disappeared girls age & remembers the fear of the local parents when it happened gets the original investigator to help her write a book. It ends with a bang! (if you're reading this book...look away!)
the disappeared supposed to be murdered girl is still alive. the stepfather got her pg. her mom figured it out. then they figured out he was sexually abusing & photographing every child in the little village they lived in. everyone but the sepfather/manor lord was somehow related. they came up with the idea to get rid of him. the girl went to live with relatives & replace a deceased child of theirs. she had a daughter who was raised as her sister, who fell in love with the son of the investigator...the boy who was born the same day the stepfather was hung. the stepfather protested his innocence to the gallows. he didn't kill Alison, but he was a pervert. the mother & the whole little intermarried village put out the clues & let things slip to keep the police interested. they helped strangers search the area repeatedly.
the reporter ends up not doing the book, since it would ruin so many lives if the truth came out. cool ending. but, this got me thinking....

remember my fascination with the Amanda Shirley murder?
(neighbor of my great grand parents Maxwell was murdered in her home while her young daughter was there.) I have always thought it would be cool to 'solve' this & write the book. I have always wanted to write. my poor sisters had to read my early manuscripts.
but...what if a lot of the unsolved historical murders really have a very different ending? what if the Amanda Shirley one did, too? And what if I could figure it out? And change the course of history? What if indeed!