Gigl returns with an underheated fourth legal thriller featuring transgender New Jersey attorney Erin McCabe (after Remain Silent). Erin and her law partner Duane Swisher have recently taken on the case of white state trooper Jon Mazer, who’s been accused of murdering Black journalist Russell Marshall. Before his death, Marshall was reporting on a story about widespread sexual harassment and racial discrimination within the ranks of New Jersey’s state police. The governor, state attorney general, and police superintendent have all labeled Mazer “a bad apple in an otherwise stellar law enforcement agency,” but Mazer, who was outed as gay shortly before Marshall’s death, insists he was helping the reporter and is being framed. Gigl supplements Erin and Duane’s investigation, which uncovers evidence of government corruption, with updates on Erin’s personal life: she marries her boyfriend, Mark, despite pushback from his bigoted parents, and they attempt to start a family. Gigl—a transgender attorney herself—writes with authority about courtroom procedure, but her trial scenes lack spark, and the pacing is jerky throughout. This one’s strictly for committed series fans. Agent: Carrie Pestritto, Laura Dail Literary. (July)

Reviewed on 05/10/2024 | Details & Permalink

In this promising series launch, Pitts (the Ross Agency Mysteries) introduces PI Vandy Myrick, the self-described “toughest bitch” in Queenstown, N.J. After her daughter died of an overdose at a college party, Vandy quit the Philadelphia police department and returned home to Queenstown. Her detective agency is a downgrade from her police work—most of her cases involve collecting evidence against philandering spouses—but it pays well and keeps her busy. Things go south, however, after she’s hired by Leo Hannah, the nephew of Queenstown’s mayor, to gather information about his wife, Ivy. When Vandy arrives at the Hannahs’ home to deliver her report, she finds a bloody crime scene. Leo says he found a man—taxi driver Hector Ramírez—attacking Ivy with a hammer and shot him, but not before Ivy was killed. Vandy isn’t convinced the answer is so straightforward and sets out to investigate. In the process, she reconnects with her high school flame, who’s now Queenstown’s chief of police, and learns discomfiting truths about the racial tensions rippling through her hometown. With an indelible lead and a richly rendered setting, Pitts sets this series up for success. Readers will clamor for the next installment. (July)

Reviewed on 05/10/2024 | Details & Permalink

Bestseller McCreight (Friends Like This) explores thorny parent-child bonds in her captivating latest. After much badgering, rebellious NYU undergrad Cleo McHugh agrees to have dinner with her estranged mother, Kat, at her parents’ house in Brooklyn. When she arrives late to find dinner burning and Kat MIA, she panics, then notices a blood-smeared shoe under the couch. Cleo frantically calls her father, Aidan, who’s away on business, and then the police, who warn her against investigating Kat’s disappearance on her own. From there, the narrative splits into parallel tracks following Kat and Cleo, and McCreight serves up shrewdly timed bits of backstory: Kat and Aidan have recently started divorce proceedings; Kat has been working as a fixer for her law firm; Cleo and her drug-dealing ex-boyfriend have just rekindled their flame. Clever red herrings add to the suspense, and McCreight weaves in moving insights about intergenerational trauma as she orchestrates the plot to its satisfying conclusion. The results are sturdy enough to withstand a few too-soapy twists. This should please McCreight’s existing fans and win her new ones. Agent: Dorian Karchmar, WME. (July)

Reviewed on 05/10/2024 | Details & Permalink

Robotham’s stirring fourth mystery featuring forensic psychologist Haven (after Lying Beside You) is the best yet. Four years earlier, Haven was called in to interview teenager Evie Cormac, whom Nottinghamshire police had found hiding in a house with the corpse of a murdered man. After Haven learned that Evie was trafficked into the U.K. from Albania, he informally adopted her, and now occasionally leans on her skills as a human lie detector to help him crack cases. During a visit to the beach one afternoon, Haven and Evie witness the bodies of 17 migrants wash ashore. Most are dead, but the lone survivor suggests that their boat was deliberately rammed. The incident sends Evie into shock, rendering her unable to speak or move, and Haven wonders if the tragedy might somehow be connected to her past. Seeking answers, Haven learns of a master criminal called “the Ferryman,” a trafficker one of his National Crime Agency contacts calls “a Keyser Söze or a Lex Luthor or a Moriarty.” Soon, Haven discovers that the Ferryman is even more powerful than the rumors suggest. Robotham adds moving new dimensions to the dynamic between his well-developed leads, and shrewdly connects the central mystery to Evie’s backstory. This series continues to impress. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management. (July)

Reviewed on 05/10/2024 | Details & Permalink

The rousing fifth entry in Freeman’s reboot of the Jason Bourne series (after The Bourne Defiance) revisits the amnesiac hero’s first assignment for black ops agency Treadstone. Ten years ago, David Webb was working as a teacher in Zurich when he was recruited into Treadstone and sent to infiltrate Le Renouveau, “the most poisonous neo-Nazi cell in Europe.” When, as a final test of his loyalty, his handlers instructed him to kill his fiancée, Monika Roth, the mission went awry, and his memory of it was wiped by a traumatic brain injury. Now, he’s living as Jason Bourne in Paris, and a contentious presidential campaign pitting a right-wing extremist against an establishment candidate is in full flame. Le Renouveau has reemerged to foment protest in the extremist’s favor, and some of its members target Bourne for reasons he can’t decipher. While dining at a café, he’s approached by Monika’s sister, Johanna, who recognizes him as David Webb. Together, the pair crisscross Europe in search of Monika, digging up answers about what exactly went wrong for Bourne a decade ago along the way. Freeman keeps things brisk and punchy, generating a surprising amount of heat by finding a fresh way to revisit Bourne’s amnesia. Fans of Ludlum’s original trilogy or the film adaptations will be riveted. Agent: Deborah Gelfman, Gelfman Schneider Literary. (July)

Reviewed on 05/10/2024 | Details & Permalink

A Taylor Swift–esque pop star is blindsided by the discovery of her high school best friend’s corpse in this powerhouse sophomore effort from Layden (All Girls). Dylan Read is a chart-topping, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter famous for her diaristic lyrics. The only major life event she hasn’t written about is the disappearance of her friend Kelsey Copestenke, who taught Dylan songwriting and seemed destined for greatness. Kelsey was known to be somewhat reckless, so when she vanished during the girls’ junior year of high school in Upstate New York, the search was perfunctory; many people assumed she’d simply decamped to Nashville. Fifteen years later, tourists discover Kelsey’s remains in a lake near her hometown. When she hears the news, Dylan thinks she knows when and why Kelsey died, and blames herself—but after she attends the memorial service, she starts to suspect there’s more to the story. Leyden skillfully intercuts Dylan’s search for answers with sections chronicling her friendship with Kelsey and the evolution of her career. Authentic characters and Dylan’s lyrical first-person narration bestow the proceedings with dimension, drama, and drive. Megan Abbott fans will devour this. Agent: Lisa Grubka, Fletcher & Co. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Penzler follows up 2023’s Golden Age Bibliomysteries with another stellar anthology that places stories from the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Stephen Vincent Bénet beside works from the biggest names in 1920s and ’30s detective fiction. Bénet impresses with “The Amateur of Crime,” an ingenious closed-circle puzzle about a college student who uses his obsession with crime stories to help solve a murder. Impossible crime master Clayton Rawson makes a major impression in just four pages with “The Clue of the Tattooed Man,” in which the Great Merlini solves one of his trickiest cases. “The Dance”—one of only two mystery stories Fitzgerald wrote—is another highlight, blending his gift for social satire (the protagonist fears small towns because “there was a whole series of secret implications, significances and terrors, just below the surface, of which I knew nothing”) with a frisky crime plot. Other entries, from genre fiction maestros including Fredric Brown and Ellery Queen, are up to par; there’s not a weak link in the bunch. For classic mystery fans, this is a must. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

The murder of a teenage girl shakes up the sleepy town of Fairhill, Vt., in bestseller Lapena’s captivating latest (after Everyone Here Is Lying). After farmer Roy Ressler notices vultures circling his crops one morning, he discovers the naked corpse of 17-year-old Diana Brewer. Bright, pretty, and popular, Diana had no known enemies, leaving a glaring question at the center of the tragedy: who could possibly want Fairhill’s golden girl dead? Cycling through a laundry list of viewpoints—including multiple suspects, Diana’s family members, and the ghost of Diana herself—Lapena illustrates how the murder causes parents to cast suspicion on their children, teachers to come under fire, and decades-long relationships to fracture. Gym teacher Brad Turner fears Diana’s death will dredge up his own secrets; when construction worker Joe Prior gets called in for questioning, he worries his past might be catching up to him. What begins as a straightforward mystery gradually blooms into a portrait of a community coming apart at the seams. While the secrets-of-a-small-town themes aren’t exactly novel, Lapena’s richly drawn characters and gift for suspense give them new life. It’s gripping stuff. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Podolski debuts with a tense crime drama centered on Rick Carter, a recruiter of expert criminals who must save his family after a job goes sideways. Rick’s troubles begin when a Belgian mob boss named Trish threatens to kill him if he refuses to oversee hits on six law enforcement officers across the globe. Reluctantly, Rick gets to work, but he’s jolted when he realizes that one of the targets—a Philadelphia police detective—is his ex-wife’s new husband. Refusing to help kill his children’s stepfather, Rick tries to back out, and Trish makes good on her promise, unleashing two assassins to hunt him down. That sends Rick on a mad dash to protect the family he abandoned in New Jersey 10 years earlier, and he draws on his network of nefarious associates to throw his pursuers off the trail. Though some of Rick’s hand-wringing grows maudlin, for the most part Podolski nails it on his first go-round, delivering a page-turner with sharp dialogue and a memorable protagonist. Here’s hoping readers hear more from Rick soon. Agent: Daniel Milaschewski, UTA. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Two swindling besties get in over their heads in this effervescent caper from Amy, who writes the Marion Lane historical mysteries as T.A. Willberg. After an ugly breakup, shy Emma Oxley reunites with her brash childhood best friend, Nellie Yarrow, who convinces her to cut a champagne-drenched swath through the grand hotels and exclusive clubs of Europe, stealing luxury goods from bad men along the way. They swear only to rob from those they believe deserve much worse, and soon develop a reputation as some of the most squeaky-clean purveyors of stolen goods on the dark web. But when a mysterious man kidnaps Nellie, then blackmails Emma into stealing a priceless bracelet from a museum exhibit, she might have to break her own rules of conduct. As Emma attempts to appease, then track down, Nellie’s kidnappers, she gets tangled in a dangerous web of criminal activity, and must turn to some of the men she’s swindled for help extricating herself. With plenty of gleaming locales to satisfy armchair travelers and an engrossing crime plot to boot, this has the makings of a series. Fans of Janet Evanovich and Elle Cosimano will be pleased. Agent: Hayley Steed, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink