A wealthy lady disappears and seven years later, pressure is applied to have her declared dead so her fortune can be distributed. There is no evidence of abduction or death, and her wealth will be given to good causes. Her airline company is offering half a million dollars for any news of her whereabouts. One stubborn senior reporter is convinced that Helena Carter chose to disappear, but he doesn't have long to prove it....

FLIGHT DREAMS is written in present tense and introduces Mark Manning of the Chicago Journal, who explains his reasoning to a junior in between taking phone calls from cranks and psychics. He organises a lunch meeting with a lawyer for the Carter estate, then visits the remaining family. Carter bred Abyssinian cats and was a noted socialite - oddly, the morning she disappeared, her best breeding pair of cats vanished too. The bulk of the estate is going to the local Catholic Diocese, making another trail for investigation. Meanwhile a reporter for a rival paper has decided to stir up public interest by insisting that this is an unsolved murder case and claiming police incompetence.

Part of the story focuses on various aspects of the modern Church and on those who would like to return to earlier traditions. While the institution is treated with respect we are aware of the potential for individuals to take a less than ideal path. Another character is unsure of his sexuality, having reached forty without finding a girlfriend. Personality explorations lift this out of the ordinary run of mysteries, and there is a visit to a pedigree cat show. As a former exhibitor of household pet cats, that was my choice of route to track down a missing cat fancier, and I enjoyed the clues and twists in that particular trail.

I was amused by the way that an unusually early lunch business meeting is not too early for Scotch or vodka, which would have no place in either lunch or business meetings in Dublin. This adult mystery novel was originally released in 1997 but has been re-released in e- format, and there are a few others in the Mark Manning mystery series. FLIGHT DREAMS by Michael Craft will not suit every cosy crime reader but is a good study of investigative procedures and human nature.