Short stories about friends and family. The first three stories are about ordinary families struggling to cope with extraordinary loss. In "One More Chocolate Santa Before Bedtime," a father and daughter spend their first Christmas Eve together without mommy. In "Sons & Fathers," two families of men are haunted by the past on the anniversary of a tragic accident. And in the title story, "Missing Malerie," a young girl disappears on a school trip to The Burren. The story chronicles the lives of her devastated family over the course of the next decade. "To be happy again, I thought I would have to forget about her...I was terrified of forgetting, as if I ever could." Then to lighten the mood we have "How I Fell In Love And Got New Speakers For My Car" A kinda romantic comedy about being young, being bored, being drunk, being dumb and being in love. This distinctly Irish teen comedy is followed by "A Eulogy For Benji," a story about a cantankerous old drunk giving a church full of mourners a piece of his mind.