Sidor proved in his well-received first novel, Skin River
(2004), that he knows a thing or two about deviant human behavior. Now he delivers an equally laudable mystery about two homicide detectives, set in the fictional midwestern town of Booth City, that delves even deeper into the darker reaches of the criminal mind. The police officers make an intriguing pair: Ike Horner, a large black man, has some serious physical problems, which he tries to hide; Eliza Ochoa has moved away from her poor Latino family and doesn't want to be responsible for her partner's health. When they check out the murder of a prostitute in a park, they're surprised to find that the dead woman is actually a transvestite male, who worked under the name of Josine. Sidor's subjects may be grisly, but his writing style is often poetic. "This had been a fine place once, a holiday destination rather than a full-stop dead end," Ike says about the ghastly hotel where Josine lived. The eulogy also covers the once beautiful Booth City, where several of the richest families are involved in some very nasty crimes. Agent, Ann Collette
. (Sept.)
