Dorsey’s 17th is as antic as ever, but his straight-arrow plotting deprives readers of the fun of figuring out just what the hell is going on.
Paul Keller, chief constable of Trafalgar, British Columbia, and his lover, Lucky Smith, a widow who is devoted to environmental causes, have come to vacation in Banff, a town known around the world for its beauty. When Lucky has a run-in with two extremely rude young men, she has no idea that one of them is Paul’s estranged son, Matt. At first, Matt snubs his father, but he’s quick to call him with the news that he’s returned home from his bartending job to find one of his roommates dead. Unfortunately, he takes off before Paul and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrive, thereby promoting himself to the most likely suspect. Lucky’s daughter, Molly, a Trafalgar constable, quickly heads for Banff to support her mother and her boss, the latter of whom seems to be aging before her eyes. Matt’s mother, who blames Paul for all of Matt’s problems, also arrives on the scene, accompanied by her wealthy boyfriend. Despite the resistance of the local RCMP sergeant, Molly—who keeps her identity as a cop well hidden—starts asking questions of Matt’s roommates and his girlfriend, Tracey. Meanwhile, back in Trafalgar, Sgt. John Winters has his hands full with activists protesting the building of a large resort, including some outsiders with radical backgrounds. While the RCMP searches for the missing Matt, Molly digs up information that leads to a surprising suspect. The glorious scenery of British Columbia upstages Delany’s regular cast in this plausible tale.
DARK SIDE
Duffy, Margaret Severn House (224 pp.) $27.95 | Mar. 1, 2014 978-0-7278-8340-7 A married crime-fighting team does what it takes to clear a friend of murder charges. Former spook Patrick Gillard and his author wife, Ingrid Langley, both now work for the Serious Organised Crime Agency. While lunching with their boss, Michael Greenway, in a London cafe, it appears one of them may have been targeted for death in a drive-by shooting. Back home near Bath, they talk things over with their friend DCI James Carrick, who is worried and furious that Benny Cooper, a criminal James put away, is back on the streets. Cooper was instrumental in a vicious attack on James’ wife, a former cop now at home with their baby; Cooper’s partner in crime, Paul Mallory, is also back on the streets, and it is possible they are both involved with a clever group of gangsters who have pulled some major jobs and so far gotten away clean. When Cooper is found with his throat cut and Carrick is found unconscious and bloodied nearby, the officious DI David Campbell arrests Carrick for the murder. Although their boss wants them to stay on the case he is working, the duo are not about to desert a friend, and they do some dangerous snooping in a club reported to belong to the head gangster, who likes to be known as the Raptor. When Ingrid is attacked and nearly raped by some of his minions, she is afraid that Patrick, who has had to kill in the past, will go to the dark side and use any methods to track the gang down. An exciting combination of police procedural and thriller, Duffy again (Stealth, 2012, etc.) provides the daring duo with plenty of cerebral and physical challenges.
TIGER SHRIMP TANGO
Dorsey, Tim Morrow/HarperCollins (320 pp.) $25.99 | $14.99 e-book | Jan. 28, 2014 978-0-06-209281-6 978-0-06-209283-0 e-book A rare burst of focus sets Serge Storms (Riptide Ultra-Glide, 2013, etc.) straight on the path of a band of South Florida scam artists. With its fertile fields of kitschy history, South Florida is a grifter’s dream. In a land that boasts roadside attractions like Gatorland and the Tupperware Confidence Center, nothing seems beyond belief. Still, Florida native South Philly Sal likes to start small. First it’s Gustave and Sasha, his gigolo and gigolette, decoying suckers into trendy bistros that serve molecular cuisine while Sal’s operatives burgle their bungalows. Then there’s Uncle Cid, who sells the same Corvette over and over, only to steal it back from under the noses of the poor schlubs who just signed the papers. Sal’s henchman, Omar, and his diminutive henchwoman, Piper, fleece thousands posing as a cancer-afflicted boy and a father who can’t afford his son’s treatment. And Sal mixes larceny with a little oldfashioned mischief, phoning hotel patrons en masse with fake poison-gas threats and rifling their room as they stream naked onto the street covered in fire-extinguisher foam. Naturally, these hijinks irk the vigilante in Serge, who goes after the perpetrators with the help of his stoned-out pal, Coleman, and an assortment of homebrewed chemical combinations Mr. Wizard never told you about.
DON’T LOOK FOR ME
Estleman, Loren D. Forge (288 pp.) $26.99 | $12.99 e-book | Mar. 18, 2014 978-0-7653-3121-2 978-1-4299-4657-5 e-book Amos Walker, Detroit’s premier missing persons specialist, finds virtually everything but the person he’s been hired to look for. This isn’t the first time Cecelia Wynn’s run out on her investment banker husband, Alec. Last time, though, she left a trail even Hansel and Gretel could have followed. It led to Lloyd Debner, an |
kirkus.com
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mystery
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15 february 2014
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