Haunted

In bestseller’s Hooper’s middling 15th Bishop/Special Crimes Unit novel (after 2013’s Hostage), Noah Bishop sends two agents, medium Hollis Templeton and telepath Reese DeMarco, to investigate the disappearance and murder of several pairs of young female hikers on the trails of Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, while SCU agent and empath Deacon James arrives in the town of Sociable, Ga., to support his sister, Melanie, who is distressed by the strangely clean murder of her ex-boyfriend for which she’s an obvious suspect. A silver cross left in the mouths of the hikers and the ex-boyfriend links what initially appear to be unrelated cases, and points the team toward an old enemy whom they thought had been defeated. The SCU time line and agent bios at the end will help readers who may be confused, but those unfamiliar with earlier installments won’t feel the full impact of the agents’ personal development or the residual danger from the revisited killer. Agent: Eileen Fallon, Fallon Literary Agency. (Sept.)