Set in early 2001, Wood's solid second mystery to feature Yorkshire Det. Sgt. Keen Dunliffe (after 2005's Kingdom of Lies
) opens with a bang. Kim Prescott, a veteran U.S. marshal on the verge of retirement, is escorting convicted felon Eunice Connor on a flight to the U.K., where Connor is facing charges stemming from her role in a violent activist group, Justice for Animals Defense Alliance. Soon after the plane lands at Heathrow (and just as the reader thinks the sympathetic Prescott is going to play a major role), an assailant on a motorcycle shoots both Prescott and Connor to death. The authorities suspect JADA's leadership may have wanted Connor silenced. Teamed with the requisite wet-behind-the-ears young partner, Dunliffe doggedly follows leads to get the goods on the group. A subplot centering on an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease raises the ante, though fans of contemporary British police procedurals won't find much to distinguish this one from the many others already out there. (Feb.)
