Bilingual cop Romilia Chacón has a prestigious new job and a promising new locale—FBI special agent in the Los Angeles field office—in Villatoro's sexy, fast-paced and satisfyingly violent third mystery (after 2003's Minos
). The step up from the Nashville homicide squad has been good for her, as has her steamy new romance with fellow agent Chip Pierce, whose vicious murder in his Venice home shortly after she leaves him late one night to mull over his marriage proposal sets off the action. Many clues point to the Guatemalan drug dealer known as Tekún Umán (the name of a Mayan warrior who fought the conquistadores), who has publicly declared his love for Romilia and helped her track down a killer in Minos
. But for Romilia, the case is still wide open, and it's up to her to ferret out the connections among Chip's murder, a terrorist bombing of a crack house, religious fanatics and the vigilante murders of several drug dealers. The simmering tension between Romilia and her criminal admirer will leave readers eagerly anticipating the fourth book in this gritty procedural series. Agent, Georges Borchardt. (May 15)
