Dreams of Fear

Bonner’s serviceable third outing for Det. Insp. David Vogel of the Major Crime Investigations Team of the Avon and Somerset Police (after 2018’s Wheel of Fire) takes the “mild-mannered and courteous” Vogel to Devon, where his former boss, Det. Insp. Nobby Clarke, “a copper with heart and integrity,” wants him to investigate a suspicious death. Vogel and his colleague, Dawn Saslow, arrive at the affluent town of Instow to find young wife and mother Jane Ferguson hanging in the stairwell of her home, “suspended by a rope fastened tightly around her neck.” Was her death suicide or murder? Vogel and Saslow descend into a morass of secrets and lies that stretch back decades and reach to the highest echelons of British society. Will Vogel be able to bring the murderer to justice, despite the odds stacked against him? Vogel’s well-developed relationships with his coworkers and family keep the reader on board, even as the plot takes some improbable turns. Fans of character-driven British police procedurals will be satisfied. Agent: Toby Peake, Peake Assoc. (U.K.). (Feb.)