cover image Sarah’s List

Sarah’s List

Elizabeth Gunn. Severn, $28.99 (192p) ISBN 978-0-7278-9049-8

Gunn’s workmanlike seventh Sarah Burke mystery (after 2016’s Denny’s Law) takes the Tucson, Ariz., homicide detective and her temporary new partner, Zivko “Bogey” Boganicevic, to Fairweather Farms, an upscale senior living facility. Earlier in the day, the facility’s van plowed into the garage, riddled with bullets and pursued by thugs wielding military-grade rifles who later escaped, leaving the van’s driver, Enrique Lopez, dead. By all accounts, Enrique was well liked for the kindness and consideration he showed his elderly charges. Why kill him in such a spectacular way, and what are members of the Fairweather staff hiding? An attack on the van’s usual driver while he’s in the hospital recovering from a car accident he had the night before Enrique’s murder raises the ante. Bogey plays a key role in the surprising denouement. Sarah’s evolving relationships with her housemates—her depressed mother, intelligent adolescent niece, and patient lover—provide relief from the violence. Fans of no frills police procedurals will be satisfied. (Aug.)