Nine Days

Texas architect Koenig’s complex and intriguing suspense debut introduces “Julia Kalas”—the name the WITSEC program assigned her after neo-Nazis made her a widow. Julia’s California construction firm operated as a money-laundering front for her husband and father-in-law’s illegal arms business. Shortly after Julia is installed in the tiny rural town of Azula, Tex., under the eye of Chief Teresa Hallstedt, she takes an arranged bartending job at Hector Guerra’s bar. The stakes rise after Guerra becomes the prime suspect in a murder. Julia is particularly attuned to her subconscious and uses it to make connections between the crimes in Azula’s downtown businesses and the social affairs of Azula’s residents, some of whom have dangerous pasts. Fans of distinctive female characters like Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon and Becky Masterman’s Brigid Quinn will be thrilled to add Koenig to their ranks. [em]Agent: Jessica Alvarez, BookEnds. (Sept.) [/em]