The Unquiet Heart

Set in post-WWII London and Berlin, Ferris's run-of-the-mill second crime thriller to feature PI Danny McRae (after Truth Dare Kill ) finds the former soldier, recently traumatized by a serial killer case, handling routine investigations-for-hire in between sessions with an army psychiatrist. McRae is jolted out of his rut by Eve Copeland, “ace reporter, with nice legs,” who offers him steady money if he gives her access to information that will enable her to regain the prominence as a journalist she'd enjoyed during the war when she had to compete with fewer male colleagues. Predictably, McRae finds himself falling for Copeland, who turns out to be a German whose real name is Ava Kaplan. When she disappears, McRae pursues her trail to occupied Berlin. Ferris captures the feel of bleak postwar Europe (“gaps like old women's gums among the warehouses and tenements”), but readers should be prepared for a standard plot and characterization. (Dec.)