Still Water

In Stuart’s engrossing but over-plotted psychological thriller, Clare O’Dey, who fled an abusive husband in 2016’s Still Mine, has her doubts about helping mysterious PI Malcolm Boon, whom her husband hired to track her down in the previous book, find another missing woman. The last time they teamed up, Clare was nearly killed, but Malcolm knows that empathetic Clare will be unable to refuse the case of Sally Proulx. Sally and her two-year-old son have vanished from the women’s refuge in High River, a remote western town that could be in either the U.S. or the author’s native Canada. It doesn’t take long after Clare’s arrival in High River, where she pretends to be an old friend of Sally’s, for her to suspect that almost everyone is hiding some pretty dangerous secrets—including attractive detective Colin Rourke, who’s codirecting the local police investigation. Although the myriad plot strands end up needlessly muddying matters, a complex heroine to whom readers will relate and the vividly evoked natural setting save the day. Agent: Chris Bucci, McDermid Agency (Canada). (July)