HIS SIXTH WINTER by Madeleine Huxtable

The world falls apart for rich socialite, Susan Connors when her son Daniel is kidnapped for ransom the day after his sixth birthday. The kidnapping has been set up by his father, Peter Connors, to alleviate his financial woes. But things go horribly wrong. Joe Quinn, the man assisting Peter with the kidnapping, makes the decision to keep both the ransom money and Daniel. In his bid for freedom, Quinn is killed in a car accident on the Stuart Highway and Mim and Albert Barton, also running from the law, find Daniel wandering along the roadside. The childless couple take him for their own..

Detective Inspector Gerald Smart is assigned to find Daniel but the case becomes cold. Four years later while investigating another case, a photograph leads him back to his search. Ten years pass as Susan Connors continues the search for her son. She follows the investigation to Melbourne where she opens a florist shop, The Zany Zinnia, in Coburg with her friend, Claire Evans. Mister Chi Chi, Daniel’s favourite toy monkey, becomes the major clue in reuniting mother and son.