Betting Blind

In Gardner’s lackluster second outing for PI Lennox Cooper (after 2013’s A Bitch Called Hope), Lennox—who was the first woman to make detective in the Portland (Ore.) Police Bureau but left the force after a tragic shoot-out—goes to the aid of her friend and potential love interest, parole officer Fulin Chen, after he’s arrested for assault. When one of Fulin’s parolees, Matilda Bauer, missed an appointment with him, he went in search of her and ended up being attacked by a man wielding a bat. The police don’t buy Fulin’s claim that he was using his kung fu moves only in self-defense. Lennox is shocked to learn that Fulin was in contact with Matilda via an online dating site, though he says that he didn’t know that the woman who identified herself to him as “Lynn” was really his client. Matilda’s murder raises the ante as Fulin becomes the main person of interest. Dull characters and unimpressive detecting add up to a less than memorable read. (Mar.)