An actor turned psychic stumbles into the center of an LAPD murder investigation in Richter’s winningly offbeat debut. Twenty-five years ago, Jenny St. John starred in The Divide, a never-released movie directed by first-timer Serge Grumet. Despite the film’s failure, Serge went on to become a major Hollywood player. In the meantime, Jenny’s star faded, and she rebranded as an “intuitive counselor” who uses her talent for reading people to provide life advice. When Serge turns up dead, the prime suspect is his ex-wife, painter Genevieve Santos, who flees Los Angeles. The problem? Genevieve and Jenny look exactly alike, and authorities come to believe they’re the same person. To clear her name, Jenny interviews friends, family, and associates of Serge and Genevieve, applying tricks she’s learned in the psychic trade to ferret out the truth, only to unwittingly make herself a target for Serge’s killer. Though the case of mistaken identity that jump-starts the plot feels far-fetched, Richter comes through with sparkling prose, a consistently surprising mystery, and an engrossing portrait of contemporary Los Angeles. Fans of Hollywood neo-noir will relish this fresh update on an old formula. Agent: Kerry Sparks, Levine Greenberg Rostan. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 05/31/2024 | Details & Permalink

Film editor Brown sets her sights on the lily-white world of Ivy League secret societies in her underheated debut. Naomi, the younger sister of New York City art dealer Maya, who is half-Asian, half-Black, is preparing to follow in Maya’s footsteps and graduate from Princeton University. Naomi’s commencement ceremony lines up with Maya’s 10-year reunion, so Maya prepares to reconnect with old classmates as she heads to New Jersey for the weekend. Not long after she arrives, authorities pull Naomi’s body from a river near campus. Though her death is ruled an accident, Maya fears her sister was murdered. From there, the perspectives and timelines split: Naomi recounts the months leading up to her death, while Maya conducts an investigation and reflects on her own time at Princeton. When Maya learns that Naomi ignored her advice and joined the same secret society Maya belonged to—one mostly populated by the white children of well-connected families—she revisits a decade-old campus death and worries she neglected to sufficiently warn her sister about the nasty games played by Princeton’s elite. Brown has a knack for atmosphere, but her pacing drags, and it’s difficult to differentiate between the voices of her protagonists. This struggles to stand out from the pack of campus thrillers. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, CAA. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 05/31/2024 | Details & Permalink

A honeymoon turns into a grisly locked-room mystery in Slaughter’s harrowing 12th outing for Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Will Trent (following After That Night). Will and his bride, medical examiner Sara Linton, plan to celebrate at McAlpine Lodge in northwest Georgia, but on the night they arrive, hotel manager Mercy McAlpine is murdered in one of the property’s cabins. Will and Sara jump into action, first turning their suspicion toward Mercy’s abusive ex-husband, whom Will knows from the time they spent together in an Atlanta boy’s home. As Will and Sarah continue to poke around, however, other suspects come into focus, including Mercy’s hot-tempered father and ice-cold mother, who hope to force a sale of the lodge, and a guest who has intimate knowledge of Mercy’s criminal past. After Will’s Bureau of Investigation colleagues show up, the body count rises, and Will unearths some unspeakable secrets within the McAlpine clan. The subject matter gets almost operatically bleak, but Slaughter saves the day with her gifts for suspense and characterization—Mercy, in particular, makes an impression. This long-running series still has gas in the tank. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Assoc. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 05/31/2024 | Details & Permalink

For the nerve-shredding sequel to To Catch a Storm, Mejia shifts her focus from psychic PI Jonah Kendrick to his college friend, Iowa City cop Max Summerlin, and Kara Johnson, the lover of Kendrick’s late niece, Celina. Summerlin is eager to get back in the field after recovering from gunshot wounds he sustained while breaking up an opioid ring run by Sam Olson. The officer gets his chance when he’s tapped to join a task force looking for a hit man who’s been killing people connected to Olson’s operation. Summerlin is deflated, however, when he learns he’s been recruited as a liaison for Johnson, who ran drugs for Olson before becoming an informant. Johnson, who was born with a condition that makes her unable to feel physical pain, is grieving the loss of Celina, whom Olson killed after she took the fall for Johnson’s informing. Neither Johnson nor Summerlin is thrilled about their partnership, but each learns from the other as they make a run at Olson and the hit man targeting him. Mejia maintains breathless suspense as she fleshes out the combative dynamic between her captivating leads. For crime fiction fans, it’s a must-read. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, Susan Lea Assoc. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 05/31/2024 | Details & Permalink

Brazier (Girls and Their Horses) elevates a familiar Mr. and Mrs. Smith–style premise to frenzied heights in this entertaining spy romance. Contract assassins Eva and Jonathan meet in the sleeper car of a train headed from Florence to Paris, and in no time, they’re having sex in the luggage compartment. Though both feel far more than a physical connection, they repress the romantic spark and go their separate ways. Six months later, they run into each other in Versailles, only to realize that each has been hired to kill the other. After much conversation (and a lot more sex), they set out to find their respective handlers and shake them down for answers, traveling from Versailles to the Cotswolds to an abandoned mansion in Bordeaux, all while battling hit men who’ve been sent to carry out the jobs they’ve refused to execute. Who wants them dead? Can they really trust each other? Alternating between the often-unreliable viewpoints of Eva and Jonathan, Brazier delivers exhilarating action, steamy romance, and enough twists to keep the pages flying. It’s a blast. Agent: Sarah Bedingfield, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary. (July)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink

In the opening pages of this tedious outing from Boldizar (The Ugly), Preble Jefferson, the New York state champion in “chessboxing” (alternating rounds of chess and boxing), gets into a fight with a cop who accuses him of “seat hoggery” for placing his chess bag on a subway seat. Preble can see five seconds into the future, and after he dodges a bullet meant for him and it takes out the cop’s partner, he flees the scene. He worries that the authorities will come after him—to say nothing of the guilt he feels for letting another man die in his place. After discussing the situation with his lawyer friend, Preble decides to disclose his gift of foresight to the NYPD and offer them his services. Word gets out, sparking a global manhunt as international agencies scramble to find and exploit Preble, a goose chase Boldizar unsuccessfully tries to mine for insights on fate and free will. Unfortunately, the novel’s mishmash of surreal comedy and earnest moralizing never coheres. Even adventurous readers are likely to find this exhausting. (July)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink

In Johnson’s gripping fifth mystery featuring Alexa Glock (after The Bone Riddle), the dental forensics expert juggles two cold cases and a recent kidnapping. Though American expat Alexa has long delighted in assisting New Zealand law enforcement, her relationship with Auckland Det. Insp. Bruce Horne is on shaky ground. While Alexa chews on the idea of leaving New Zealand for a new professional opportunity, archaeologist Ana Luckenbaugh asks her for a consultation: Ana has exhumed the century-old body of Chinese gold miner Wing Lun, and Lun’s great-granddaughter has asked her to repatriate the remains to China. While confirming the bones belong to Lun, Alexa notices a hole in the skull that calls his cause of death into question. Then authorities unearth a second skeleton with similar wounds nearby, and the principal of the local school goes missing, shortly after killer Earl Hammer is released from prison. Can Alexa find a link between the cases? Johnson seamlessly ties the past mystery to the present one, and her rich shading of even minor characters sets this apart from similar procedurals. This series continues to impress. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary. (June)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink

Multigenerational mysteries haunt a Hudson Valley mansion in this moody if convoluted gothic thriller from Mary Higgins Clark Award winner Goodman (The Bones of the Story). Agnes Corey is nearing the end of her probationary period as an editorial assistant at Gatehouse Books in New York City. For many years, Gatehouse has been kept afloat by Veronica St. Clair’s The Secret of Wyldcliffe Heights, a neogothic 1990s blockbuster; despite decades of silence from its reclusive author, the book’s cult following continues to clamor for a sequel. As Gatehouse’s financial footing slips and executives consider selling the publisher to a larger firm, Agnes decides to write to Veronica and beg for a sequel. Surprisingly, Veronica writes back and invites Agnes to the real-life Wyldcliffe Heights—a sprawling asylum turned mansion a few hours outside the city—to work as her assistant. When Agnes arrives, she learns that Veronica has gone blind. As she takes dictation for Veronica’s new book, Agnes learns about the real-life events that inspired The Secret of Wyldcliffe Heights. Eventually, she discovers that her own history intersects with that of Wyldcliffe. Goodman nails the gothic atmosphere, but by the end, her plot has grown too tangled to achieve maximum impact. This doesn’t rank with the author’s best. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (July)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink

Craft (Desert Getaway) delivers a breezy second whodunit featuring Palm Springs investigative duo Dante O’Donnell and Jazz Friendly. Dante’s life is looking up: he’s madly in love with his new boyfriend, and as concierge for a vacation rental company, he’s just leased a guesthouse on a U.S. ambassador’s estate to celebrity romance author Maude Movay, who plans to hunker down for an entire month while she finishes her latest manuscript. Dante’s efforts to learn more about his reclusive guest are cut short when Jazz, a PI who befriended Dante after helping clear his name in a murder case, discovers Maude’s strangled corpse on the grounds of the estate. Once again, the two join forces to ferret out the culprit. The stakes are raised when Jazz’s daughter is abducted during their investigation, leading the men to wonder if Maude’s murder had more to do with them than they initially realized. Craft deepens his protagonists’ rapport considerably, and complements the impressive character development with a brain-teasing mystery. Readers will hope to hear more from Dante and Jazz soon. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink

Bestseller Scott’s frothy latest (after Regrets Only) drops readers into the rarified world of 34-year-old playboy Peter Frank. Each year, Peter’s mother throws a clambake for the upper crust of New Jersey’s Cape May. This year’s event includes a bombshell—Peter’s impromptu wedding to family friend Tilly Danforth. The news comes as a particular shock to three women on the guest list: tennis star Maya Romero, Peter’s girlfriend; wedding planner Catherine Farr, his high school ex; and Leanne Gladstone, the aunt of his son from a previous relationship. When Tilly is found crushed to death beneath a chandelier, Catherine, who fancies herself an amateur sleuth, starts poking around. Before long, she learns that Peter’s potential investment in her business has placed her at the top of the suspect list, with Maya’s jealousy and Leanne’s entanglement in a custody battle with Peter putting them close behind. To avoid scandal and clear their names, the three women band together to solve Tilly’s murder. Scott keeps things fleet-footed and effervescent, allowing the investigation to float by on a cloud of petty betrayals and vicarious consumption. The result is ideal poolside reading. Agent: Holly Root, Root Literary. (July)

Reviewed on 05/24/2024 | Details & Permalink