Supping with the Devil: A DCI Monika Paniatowski Mystery

Set in 1976, Spencer’s superior eighth mystery featuring Det. Chief Insp. Monika Paniatowski (after 2013’s Death’s Dark Shadow) finds the Whitebridge copper shunted aside by her vindictive boss to serve as adviser to Gervaise de Courtney, 13th Earl of Ridley, who’s sponsoring a Woodstock-like festival on his estate. Both the earl’s family and the police foresee trouble that they’ll be powerless to prevent. Meanwhile, the activities of a host of other characters—a rider in a motorcycle gang doing concert security, members of Paniatowski’s unhappy squad, an unemployed journalist who has just published a career-changing story, a teen singer expecting to make it big—ratchet up the tension long before violence erupts. When it does, Monika’s replacement has a suspect in mind—and demands evidence to prove it. Most of the violence is off-camera, but fierce all the same. Spencer has devised a thrill ride that’s not easily forgotten. (Oct.)