The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Kubica, Mary. Local Woman Missing. Park Row, May 18, 2021. Kindle.

In the thriller Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica, an emaciated, abused girl who claims she is Delilah Dickey is found in the woods. The scene sets into motion events that solve two murders that occurred 11 years prior. Shelby Tebow, one of the victims, went out jogging and never returned. It was later determined that her husband killed her. Meredith Dickey disappeared ten days later. When her body was found, the police assumed she died by suicide. Only Delilah holds the information that will lead to what really happened to both women.

A girl who believes herself to be Delilah Dickey escapes from the basement where she has been held captive for 11 years. The girl returns to live with Josh Dickey, Delilah's biological father. However, a DNA test proves that the girl is not the daughter of Josh. The lead detective in the case, Carla Rowlings, has become emotionally involved with Josh. Detective Rowlings ignores the DNA results and tells Josh that the girl is his daughter. Leo, Delilah’s younger brother, calls to his father’s attention that his sister had a cleft chin. The girl who has returned to them does not have a cleft chin, indicating she is not Delilah. The girl, who has been programmed by her kidnappers to believe she is Delilah, is devastated and runs away. When the police search the garage of a next-door neighbor, they locate the real Delilah living in the attic. She tells the police that she watched as their next-door neighbor, Bea, killed her mother.

Kubica writes her novel from the point of view of the following characters: Kate, Bea’s wife; Meredith, Delilah's mother; and Leo, who is Meredith’s son and Delilah’s brother. The points of view focus on the story that takes place 11 years prior when Bea and Meredith accidentally hit and killed Shelby with their car while driving home drunk from Bea’s 30th birthday party. Believing she was protecting herself, Bea forced Meredith to help her drive Shelby’s body to a secluded location and bury it. Bea disposed of Shelby’s bloody clothes in a dumpster near the place where Shelby’s husband worked, framing him for the murder.

When it appeared that Meredith could no longer deal with her grief and was going to go to the police, Bea stopped Meredith the only way she knew how. She hit Meredith on the back of the head with a hammer, stopping her from calling 911 on her phone. Delilah, Meredith’s daughter, was home from school sick and believed she had witnessed her mother being killed. Since Delilah had seen what happened, Bea took Delilah to the soundproofed garage she used as a music studio.

Meanwhile, Bea took Meredith to a hotel a few towns over and murdered her with a knife. She had forced Meredith to write what appeared to be a suicide note before the murder. Since Meredith was on anti-depressants for postpartum depression, the police assumed that she had been suicidal and never questioned that Meredith had killed herself.

In the present, Bea runs when the police demand to search her music studio. She is caught when she tries to purchase fake identification. She pleads guilty to both Shelby’s murder and Meredith’s murder.