Trap Lane

In Cameron’s so-so sixth Alex Duggins mystery (after 2018’s Whisper the Dead), things take an awkward turn for virtuous Alex, the owner of the Black Dog pub in the Cotswold village of Folly-on-Weir, when prideful Neve Rhys turns up demanding to see her cousin Hugh Rhys, the pub manager. Upon seeing Neve, the normally taciturn Hugh displays raging fury, an emotion that Alex has never before seen him express. Hugh storms off to his home, to find that his lustful former lover, Sonia Quillam, is there. Sonia still harbors the delusion that he’s the father of her son, who’s serving a murder sentence in a psychiatric institution. Sonia goes missing, a dead man is found in a pond near Hugh’s house, and Hugh becomes the major suspect. Alex and her lover, ever-patient veterinarian Tony Harrison, help and hinder the local police in their investigations. Paper-thin characters, confused motives, and a standard confession-spewing finale make this one for dyed-in-the-wool fans only. Hopefully, Cameron will return to form next time. Agent: Liza Dawson, Liza Dawson Assoc. (Oct.)