An Unsettled Grave

Multiple plot contrivances and a lead investigator who makes questionable choices mar Schaffer’s sequel to 2018’s The Thief of All Light. Viera County, Pa., police detective Carrie Santero is assigned to the case of Monica Gere, a rape victim who alleges that she was assaulted by a police officer who pulled her over. When Santero reaches out to touch Gere to console her, bafflingly without asking for permission, Gere pushes her away and becomes hysterical, leaving Santero with little basis to counter her superior’s belief that the accusation was a false one. Meanwhile, Santero looks into a cold case—the remains of a child’s foot found in the woods is believed to belong to Hope Pugh, whose disappearance 40 years earlier was never explained. When Santero’s dogged efforts lead her to a missing case file, she makes a decision that shows poor judgment: she attempts to preserve a fingerprint on a knife from the case file in her hotel room rather than transport the evidence to a laboratory. Neither investigation comes to a satisfactory solution. Hopefully, Schaffer, a veteran police officer, will do better next time. Agent: Sharon Pelletier, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Aug.)