False Front

At the start of Edgar-finalist Fanning’s absorbing fifth Lucinda Pierce mystery (after 2010’s Twisted Reason), the Virginia homicide lieutenant looks into the apparent suicide of Candace Eagleton, found hanged in her lavishly decorated house overlooking the James River. The victim’s husband, Frank Eagleton, says his wife was murdered. When a search of the house turns up a note Candace wrote to Frank that states she plans to leave him before he kills her, Frank becomes the prime suspect in her murder. Meanwhile, Lucinda’s FBI agent boyfriend, Jake Lovett, follows up the claim of a small-time crook in fear of his life that he helped bury the body of a woman 30 years earlier in or just outside federal land, a crime that could be linked to a high-ranking person in the U.S. government. Lucinda and Jake, no surprise, soon discover a link between their respective cases. Credible characters bolster a well-crafted plot. Agent: Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (May)