cover image Thief’s Mark

Thief’s Mark

Carla Neggers. Mira, $26.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-7783-3031-8

At the start of bestseller Neggers’s convoluted seventh novel featuring FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan (after 2016’s Liar’s Key), the couple are nearing the end of their honeymoon in Ireland when they’re drawn into a case involving Oliver York, a former international art thief who’s now assisting MI5. The pair travel from Dublin to Oliver’s home in the Cotswolds, where an unidentified man has been found dead; Oliver himself is missing. His gardener and childhood friend, former MI5 agent Henrietta Balfour, refuses to consider that he might be guilty of any crime. She joins with Emma and Colin in ferreting out the truth about the dead man and his involvement with Oliver. Their search for answers takes them to Heron’s Cove, Maine, and to a final standoff in the Scottish Highlands. Filled with digressions and plodding summaries of backstory, this entry will appeal mainly to series fans, who will enjoy catching up with the newlyweds and learning the titillating details of Oliver’s traumatic childhood. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (Aug.)