This engaging start of a new series, West’s first novel since 1979’s The Ancestors Cry Out
, introduces former opera star and blueblood Emma Streat. Emma’s husband, Lewis, CEO of a defense company, has grown terse and paranoid of late, increasingly concerned with security and refusing to tell Emma what’s bothering him. On a trip to London, Emma demands to know what’s happening, but Lewis only tells her there’s a problem with a new weapons project. Shortly after their return to Connecticut, Lewis dies in a suspicious accident. Emma heads back to London to investigate and soon learns of a second death, then a third. Though attempts are made on her own life, she remains determined to learn who murdered her husband and why. West spins a plausible tale, and flawed, grieving Emma makes an appealing heroine. (Nov.)
