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Police Procedural

Review

What He Left Behind

by Danise Hoover

Oak Hill, NC is a town where nothing much in the way of crime happens. Then, in the space of a few days, there is murder, robbery, and arson. Jacob Sawyer, someone who hasn’t been seen for 15 years, is back in town, though no one thinks he is the cause. Grace Bingham, local police detective and Jacob’s abandoned love interest from before, is under time pressure to solve the crimes without offending anyone important. Jacob’s back because his mother, beloved in the town, is dying of cancer; Calvin Dockery, an extremely wealthy local who pulls all the strings, is also dying. The current crimes harken to unexplained events of the past that caused Jacob to leave. The story moves from the present to the past and back again, gradually revealing what happened. Grace and Jacob are undeterred in their search to connect what is happening now with what happened in the past regardless of who is involved. Money is power, and power is very dangerous here, and those with it are willing to spare no one. Resolution is not easy, but very satisfying in a book with a great deal of atmosphere and local resonance.

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Review

Nightshade

by Jeff Ayers

Sergeant Stilwell works for the sheriff’s office of Catalina Island, off Los Angeles, a job he was shoved into after an incident on the mainland involving his partner. Police politics and his dogged pursuit of the truth have placed him in a thankless job, but serving a warrant on a suspect in an animal-abuse case quickly turns ugly. When the murder of a young woman who waitressed at a gentlemen’s club puts him in the crosshairs of influential people, not to mention those of his former colleagues, Stilwell can either sit back and let everyone else solve things, or he can go against protocol and orders and pursue justice. Doing the right thing could jeopardize his career and future with a woman he’s fallen in love with on the island. Connelly has created a whole new cast of characters, and just like Bosch and Ballard, Stilwell and the rest are terrific. The case and the story flow nicely, and it wouldn’t be a Michael Connelly novel without a few surprises. His name on the cover guarantees a stellar read, and Nightshade is no exception and hopefully the start of a new series.

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Review

Carved in Blood

by Willy Williams

June in New Zealand means a chilly winter. But it also marks the rising of the sacred stars known as the Matarike, launching the start of the Māori New Year. “When Matarike rises, it is a time for remembering the dead; a time for saying goodbye. And it is also a time for starting anew.” Like the sacred Matarike celebrations, Bennett’s emotionally charged third Hana Westerman mystery (after Better the Blood and Return to Blood) revolves around a series of transitions, in which beloved characters say goodbye to loved ones and embark on new directions in their lives. Returning from festivities in his ex-wife Hana’s hometown, Detective Inspector Jaye Hamilton stops at an Auckland convenience store to pick up champagne to celebrate his daughter’s engagement when he is shot and seriously wounded by a balaclava-wearing assailant. The getaway car is quickly found and a young Māori man, Toa Davis, is implicated in the crime. But Hana, who has asked to join the investigation as a temporary constable, soon suspects that this was no random assault but a targeted attack. Could it be connected to Jaye’s work as an undercover cop years ago? Māori author Bennett delves deeper into New Zealand’s aboriginal culture (with helpful footnotes translating Māori words) while exploring the deeply embedded racism that the country’s first peoples face. An open-ended conclusion will have fans eagerly awaiting the next installment.

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Review

Streetwhys

by Henrietta Thornton

After Scavenger and Standalone, Chambers has brought his DC PI Dickie Cornish back to have his smarts tested and his heart trampled on again. Dickie’s clean after “a mishap in college” (Howard University, no less) saw him living as an addict on the streets and in various flophouses. He’s the kind of guy who lets his cat eat mayo and crumbs off his plate, but can put a tough facade on when he has to. When a way-out-of-his-league former classmate, now Deputy Attorney General of the United States, asks him—with the threat of a murder charge from his past if he says no—to find out who’s supplying lethal drugs to the area, he’s back on the streets, tough attitude in place. Readers are in for a layered mystery here, with Dickie moving between tent cities and the Department of Justice to figure out what’s going on, and with figures from his past reappearing and adding to the puzzle and mayhem. Throughout, the Black PI’s failure to fit in his old haunts and new ones creates an atmospheric tension that’s imparted by Dickie’s inner monologue and realistic dialogue with characters of all kinds. Noir fans, look out.

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Review

Kiss Her Goodbye

by Jeff Ayers

Frankie Elkin, finder of missing people, goes to Tucson, Arizona, to search for a missing Afghan refugee in Gardner’s (Still See You Everywhere), latest thriller. Sabera’s a young mom who vanishes, leaving behind a frightened little girl and a husband who doesn’t seem all that concerned his wife is missing. The police don’t even bother opening a case into the matter. Sabera’s friend, Aliah, knows something has happened and hopes Frankie can uncover the truth, even if the answer is painful. Establishing a home base of operations, Frankie finds a place to live temporarily: housesitting for a rich gamer with exotic pets and a quirky staff, who quickly become her allies. The more Frankie digs, the more everyone seems to be hiding something, and when a breaking news segment on local television shows what appears to be Sabera in the background of a murder scene, Frankie starts to question if anyone is trustworthy. The past collides with the present, and Frankie will face the unfortunate reality that finding answers might not necessarily mean winning or justice. Gardner knows how to do a psychological deep dive into her characters, making readers feel that these people with traumatic pasts and secrets could easily be our next-door neighbors. She also provides insight into the plight of refugees while amping up the tension and twists. Another great entry from the always reliable Gardner.

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Review

The Devil’s Kitchen: A Murder in Yellowstone

by Danise Hoover

A reader may justifiably expect this book to be set in the American west, but this work, a two-novel combination, begins with the French neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David and and the French Revolution. The modern-day mystery is set in Yellowstone National Park, where seasonal ranger and retired Fort Worth cop Clarence Johnson discovers a corpse as an unplanned part of his tour of park history. It connects him with Park Service Police Investigator Allison Nance and DEA Agent LaFleur, and after some struggle to get his creds recognized, Johnson joins the investigation. LaFleur is convinced that this death is drug related and does everything to make the evidence fit his theory. Johnson is pretty sure it is not and works to persuade Nance to be open minded. Nance’s specialty is art history; the painter Thomas Moran is said to have much to do with Yellowstone being the first National Park, and art as evidence crops up often in this case. Chapters alternate between the past and the present, with an artifact of French royalty at the center of intrigue in both time frames. While it is somewhat unusual to have so much time spent in the past, it is necessary here to set the stage. The interpretation of the artistic clues is a bit stretched, but essential to the conclusion. This could be an interesting series, and I hope to see further adventures of Nance and Johnson, along with Tripod, his three-legged rescue dog.

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Review

And the Lake Will Take Them

by Danise Hoover

This is not an easy time for Sheriff Red Hammergren. She’s a widow in the job her husband once held, with the purse strings held by a toxically masculine board. It’s January in Minnesota, snowing with more predicted, serious drug problems in the town, and the comic relief of an insulting new webpage done by a leading citizen’s nephew. An elderly man with dementia has wandered off without his coat, there is a missing teenage girl, and the snowplows can’t keep up with what’s coming down. Red locates the man, but Missy, the teen, has reasons for running that are unclear. The danger Missy is in comes not only from the weather but from some really bad individuals. Red has to connect all the pieces—information from cold cases of the past, secrets in the present—while trying to keep everyone safe from the weather and from the danger she senses but can’t define. Red is a wonderful character, fighting to save her town with loyal deputies and a group of retired nurses. She succeeds in the end by her ability to listen. It seems we will see more of Red, one would hope in a more pleasant season.

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Review

A Dead Draw

by Jeff Ayers

An interrogation with suspect Erik Schmidt haunts Detective Tracy Crosswhite, and his connection to her sister’s killer brings back painful memories in Dugoni’s latest thriller. Tracy’s reaction to Schmidt triggers her PTSD, and when she makes a mistake during a training session, the detective realizes she needs to destress. When Schmidt is released on a technicality, Tracy convinces her family to spend some time in her hometown of Cedar Grove so she can step away, relax, and put Schmidt out of her mind. But Schmidt has other ideas. A thriller author can rarely take an obvious cat-and-mouse game with the established final battle setup and turn it on its head to create a tense and unexpected confrontation, but Dugoni (Beyond Reasonable Doubt, A Killing on the Hill) pulls it off. He realizes his characters are first-rate and readers will follow them anywhere, so he amps up the suspense and crafts a page-turner that will cause carpal tunnel from tight gripping of the book. This eleventh entry is one of the best in the series, and Dugoni continues to tell great stories while expanding our love of Tracy and her world. Whether Tracy’s new or a regular addition to your reading pile, sketch out some time for this.

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Review

Hidden in Smoke

by Henrietta Thornton

Whip-smart, odd-couple arson investigators Andrew Walker and Walter Sharpe are back, this time probing a string of fires across LA. The worst is a blaze that has taken out part of a major highway. In a city that lives in its car, traffic that’s even more snarled is a disaster, and the investigators relish the chance to travel by helicopter while they sniff out—sometimes literally—clues and, at least on Sharpe’s part, exasperate all around them. Fans of the series will enjoy reacquainting themselves with a lovable criminal from the previous books (Ashes Never Lie, 2024; Malibu Burning, 2023), Danny Cole, who is continuing his revenge against a corporate monster. Tense scenes, some (awesome!), Mission Impossible-type capers, and the wonderful arson-fighting duo of Walker and Sharpe make this an exciting, absorbing addition to the series. Readers need not have read the previous books, but it adds to the experience.

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Review

The Wolf Tree

by Willy Williams

Eight months after a traumatic on-the-job accident almost killed her, George (Georgina) Lennox has been assigned her first case as a newly promoted Glasgow DI: to investigate the suicide of 18-year-old Alan Ferguson on a remote island in the Scottish Hebrides. A disappointed George protests to her boss: “Because nothing happens out there. These islands are medieval time capsules with a population of relics.” Arriving on the stark and barren Eilean Eadar with her partner, Richie Stewart, she finds an isolated community that still clings to its ancient Catholic faith (in Protestant Scotland) and that is deeply suspicious of outsiders. As George and Richie interview the locals, George senses that something is off about the place and its people. Mysterious double spirals are engraved into the village houses and farm crofts. The long abandoned lighthouse where Alan fell is also the site where three lighthouse keepers disappeared mysteriously a century ago. Late at night, George hears the howling of a wolf and spots a masked figure outside her window. Who is trying to thwart the investigation? At the same time, George and Richie clash over the DI’s use of prescription pain medication and her reckless tendency to charge into risky situations without backup. George is a compelling sleuth, tough yet also vulnerable and not always likable, but she has great chemistry with the fatherly Richie. Debut author McCluskey has written a compellingly spooky and creepy mystery with a hint of folk horror à la The Wicker Man. Fans of Ann Cleeves’s Shetland crime novels and Peter May’s Lewis Trilogy will delight in this atmospheric thriller.

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