Seven Suspects

The past weighs heavily on Bobbi Logan in James’s third outing for the transgender Chicago hairdresser (after 2016’s A Kind of Justice), to the detriment of the book as a self-contained mystery. As Bobbi navigates her uneasy recovery from brutal past traumas and shaky lost loves, she starts feeling watched, then threatened, and finally under outright attack from an unknown assailant. As the brutality ratchets up, Bobbi bands her support network together, including former lover Phil, a Chicago policeman, and Cecelia, a retired investment banker who serves as her mentor and guidepost for her posttransition life. The stakes rise after someone trashes her hair salon and later her house. Though readers are sure to cheer for the brave, resolute Bobbi, her fixations on numerology and the need for seven suspects, as well as the clearly telegraphed identity of the stalker, make this a novel with a great protagonist in need of a better plot. Agent: Tina Schwartz, Purcell Agency. (Oct.)

This review has been corrected to reflect updated distributor information for the book.