cover image In the Line of Fire: A Laura Mori Mystery

In the Line of Fire: A Laura Mori Mystery

R.J. Noonan. Crooked Lane, $26.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-64385-015-3

A distinctive lead lifts Noonan’s solid sequel to 2017’s Where the Lost Girls Go. Laura Mori, a first-generation Japanese American, believes her patience and kindness give her an extra edge in performing her job. Laura, who’s “the youngest female to make detective in the history of Sunrise Lake,” a bedroom community of Portland, Ore., is excited when she’s tasked to head a bank robbery investigation. Eager to prove her worth, she studies every angle of the case, discovering what she believes to be similarities between it and a series of bank robberies committed three years earlier by the Twilight Bandit. That crime spree ended abruptly when a police officer was gunned down during the last heist. Laura’s fellow officers tell her she should stick to the case in hand, and when she persists, she becomes the target of harassment and threats that turn deadly. Laura’s sensitive approach to law enforcement makes a refreshing change from the standard police procedural. Readers will hope to see more of this appealing heroine. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (Aug.)