Killing Frost: A Deets Shanahan Mystery

In the 11th and perhaps final Deets Shanahan mystery (after 2011’s Bullet Beach), Shamus Award–finalist Tierney brings the career of his Indianapolis PI to an elegiac close. Retired and reeling from two recent brain cancer operations at age 72, Shanahan nevertheless accepts an enigmatic client, Alexandra Fournier—only to have her drop dead, shot by a professional sniper, on his doorstep. Rehired by the victim’s sister to discover the reasons Alexandra wanted to hire him in the first place, Shanahan slogs through pain, seizures, medication fog, and ominous encounters with various baddies, including a crooked cop, a slimy defense attorney, and Alexandra’s chiseling brother, but the book’s real appeal is Shanahan’s gruff, dogged devotion to his much younger girlfriend, Maureen. Maureen keeps this old, broken-down detective going with a mixture of tough love, canny professional assistance, and gritty determination. This entry is a tribute to human decency and one man’s refusal to give up in the face of age and inevitable physical deterioration. (May)