Buckley's awkward second novel launches a new contemporary mystery series that reads like a throwback to the 1950s. Madeline Mann, a reporter for the small Illinois newspaper The Webley Wire
, finds herself investigating the shooting of an old high school friend, Logan Lanford, who played in her brother Fritz's band. Lanford also spent some time as a high-level staffer in the office of Webley mayor Don Paul, and Mann is hot on the scent after she spots a car that resembles one seen at the murder scene. Numerous suspects abound, with fairly standard motivations—a pot crop, a corruption scandal, etc.—but Mann does little actual detecting, stumbling instead on the truth by chance. Hopefully, Buckley (The Dark Backward
) will let her heroine do more serious sleuthing in the sequel. (Aug.)