Someone Always Knows

The return of the presumed dead Gage Renshaw, the treacherous former business partner of Hy Ripinksy, Sharon McCone’s husband, kicks off MWA Grand Master Muller’s diverting but lightweight 33rd outing for veteran San Francisco PI McCone (after 2014’s The Night Searchers). Initially playing his cards close to the vest, Renshaw begins tailing and harassing McCone, Ripinsky, and their operatives as they pursue a full plate of cases, including a new assignment from deep-pocketed Chad Kenyon to secure a derelict and squatter-overrun but potentially valuable Victorian house that he has just purchased. By the time it becomes apparent Renshaw has a very particular interest of his own in the property, there’s already one dead body—and very real peril to McCone. Aided by her protagonist’s pilot’s license, Muller keeps the action literally flying, moving from vividly detailed Bay Area neighborhoods down to a Baja fishing village and up to Ripinsky and McCone’s high desert ranch, but she proves less sure-handed when it comes to providing a satisfying denouement. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Literary. (July)