Homicide in the House: A Washington Whodunit

Shogan’s solid second Washington, D.C., whodunit (after 2015’s Stabbing in the Senate) finds congressional staffer Kit Marshall serving as legislative director to North Carolina freshman Representative Maeve Dixon, a middle-of-the-road Democrat. On the eve of a government shutdown over the budget, Jack Drysdale, the Speaker of the House’s top aide, tries to persuade Dixon to toe the party line, but he ends up in a very public confrontation with her instead. When Drysdale turns up dead in the Capitol rotunda the next day, Dixon becomes the prime suspect in his murder. With the threat of Dixon’s arrest imminent, Marshall begins to look for alternative suspects, who include Gareth Pressler, a senior aide for the Sergeant of Arms; Drysdale’s spouse, Jordan Macintyre; and anonymous blogger Hill Rat. Shogan does a good job depicting the creaky, squeaky wheels of government, and Marshall plays politics and sleuth with equal dexterity in this capital Capitol Hill mystery. [em]Agent: Dawn Dowdle, Blue Ridge Literary. (June) [/em]