Diamondback Revenge: Reese Golden Mysteries, Book Two

In Reynders’s uninspired sequel to 2022’s Wild Creek Whispers, Reese Golden, who resigned from the Denver PD after being shot on duty, has returned to her hometown of Meadowlark Valley, Wyo., to work as a PI. Her main diet of conducting background checks for the feds is leavened with occasional random cases. She chances into one when she stops at the Barking Squirrel gas station, whose proprietor, Ford Presley, tells her he’s been robbed. Worse, Ford’s daughter, Bella Northwood, a high school friend of Reese’s, drowned the day before during a whitewater rafting trip, though her body has not been recovered. The thief took some candy and jewelry, as well as an item of great sentimental value: a diorama including three rattlesnakes that Bella made for him. Reese agrees to try to recover the diorama, but a violent crime complicates her inquiry. Local color compensates only in part for underdeveloped characters and lengthy explanatory passages that slow the pace. Regional mystery fans will be disappointed. (Apr.)