Desolation Flats

Set in 1938, Hunt’s outstanding third mystery featuring Mormon policeman Art Oveson (after 2015’s A Killing in Zion) combines a moving portrayal of a man attempting to deal with his wife’s depression with a clever whodunit story line. Art, who’s been transferred to the Salt Lake City PD’s two-man Missing Persons Bureau, is on hand when British racing-car driver Clive Underhill almost perishes in a crash. Art risks his own life to rescue Clive, who has traveled to the U.S. to try to set the world’s land-speed record on the Salt Flats. Clive’s major competition is a German racer, whose triumph would be a propaganda victory for the Nazis. The detective gets further involved with Clive after a member of Clive’s party disappears and another is murdered. The identity of the prime murder suspect complicates Art’s inquiry, as do his struggles with his wife’s mental illness and its effect on their three children. The richness of the characters, including secondary ones, and the imaginative plot make this the best yet in the series. [em]Agent: Steve Ross, Abrams Artists Agency. (Nov.) [/em]