Disco Dead

The 1978 murder of 17-year-old Amy Madison, who spent her last night dancing at an Annapolis, Md., disco in the company of two Naval Academy cadets, drives Talley’s satisfying 19th Hannah Ives mystery (after 2021’s Done Gone). Forty years later, Amy’s killer is still at large. A chance meeting brings Hannah, a “search angel” who helps people trace their family trees, and Isabella “Izzy” Randall, a sidelined investigative reporter, together to solve the cold case. Hannah partners with Izzy and Izzy’s friends—Mark Wallis, a military chaplain with a master’s degree in criminal psychology, and Jack Shelton, a former Baltimore homicide detective—to use their respective skills to trace the case’s decades-old clues. With Hannah doggedly hunting through genealogy websites with now-available DNA information, Izzy interviewing witnesses, Jack looking through similar killings, and Mark searching Navy files, the four (aka the Silent Sleuths) prepare to deliver long-overdue justice to a serial killer with a victim in every port. Many will appreciate that the characters rely on brains rather than brawn. This intelligent mystery series deserves a long run. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary. (Nov.)