The Kill Circle: A Cordell Logan Mystery

The story line of Freed’s disappointing sixth Cordell Logan mystery (after 2016’s Hot Start) feels like old hat. Logan, a former government assassin who now runs a flight school in Rancho Bonita, Calif., gets a visit from Layne Sterling, a CIA agent with the agency’s Casualty Assessment Matrix. That unit reviews the deaths of retired employees to determine whether foul play by a U.S. enemy was involved. One such death has just occurred: Rico Perris, who worked for the Company as an analyst for 32 years, died when he drove his car off a cliff in a blizzard near Denver. Perris was among those assigned to the Red Lancer task force responsible for looking into rumors that rogue CIA operatives were part of a plot to kill J.F.K. Since another task force member died a month earlier, Layne’s bosses are concerned that someone is silencing people who knew too much. The likable Logan faces numerous perils with his usual cool, but even conspiracy buffs are unlikely to find the plot twists satisfying. Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. (Oct.)