Nasty Cutter: A Raymond Donne Mystery

O’Mara’s absorbing fourth Raymond Donne mystery (after 2015’s Dead Red) finds the former New York City policeman, now dean of a middle school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at a crime scene in Manhattan. The murder victim, Marty Glover, was Ray’s late father’s former law partner and recent recipient of Williamsburg’s Man of the Year Award. A school parent, Maria Robles, later phones Ray to say that her son, Hector, after hearing of Marty’s death, has locked himself in his bedroom and is refusing to come out unless he talks to Ray. Hector had grown attached to Marty, who was sponsoring him in a mentorship program. After meeting with Hector, Ray is pulled into unofficially investigating Marty’s murder. With the help of Allison Rogers, his reporter girlfriend, and friend Edgar Martinez O’Brien, a technophile and civilian crime-fighting junkie, Ray pursues a trail that leads to long-buried secrets, a two-decades-old rape case, and shady legal shenanigans. O’Mara skillfully ties all the various plot lines together. [em]Agents: Erin Niumata and Maura Teitelbaum, Folio Literary Management. (Jan.) [/em]