The Color Red: Book One in the Detective Bourque Series

Early in this impressive series launch from Potter (Bay of Blood), Ivy Bourque, of the Massachusetts State Police’s Cape & Islands Detective Unit, is called to the East Falmouth mansion of businessman Rollo Novak, who’s originally from Slovenia. Novak, who made his billions funding startups, became a celebrity from his appearance on the popular reality show Angels or Devils; in the program, affluent entrepreneurs would assess new ventures and decide whether to support them or take them over. His major-domo, a fellow Slav, called 911 after finding the naked bodies of Novak and his wife, Katrina Hayden, a former Miss USA, hanging from a stair rail by their swimming pool. Bourque wonders whether the deaths were both murders or a murder-suicide, though a prologue makes clear both victims were murdered. The complex investigation includes many possible suspects, from disgruntled Angels or Devils contestants to someone connected to the Balkans’ bloody past. Potter makes Bourque, who gave up a career in organic chemistry to hunt killers, a credible lead readers will root for. Fans of intelligent procedurals will hope for a long series run. (Mar.)