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evidence she’s
dead. Walker
learns that the
police inquiry
into the disap-
pearance was
handled by an
old friend of his,
John Alderdyce,
who recently
retired from the
force. Alderdyce
always believed that Lawes was behind his
wife’s murder, but he was never able to
prove it. The plot thickens when Walker
learns that the first police officer to find
Paula’s vehicle was gunned down soon
afterward. Chandler and Hammett fans
will feel right at home on the mean streets
of Estleman’s Detroit. Agent: Dominick
Abel, Dominick Abel Literary. (Dec.)
Now You See Them
Elly Griffiths. Mariner, $15.95 trade paper
(368p) ISBN 978-1-328-97159-3
Set in 1964, Mary Higgins Clark
Award–winner Griffiths’s fine fifth Magic
Men mystery (after 2017’s The Vanishing
Box) finds Supt. Edgar Stephens and his
colleague, Det. Insp. Bob Willis, looking
into the disappearance of schoolgirl Rhonda
Miles, an MP’s daughter, who supposedly
ran off to London to see 18-year-old matinee
idol Bobby Hambro, but her father is
certain that she has been abducted. Edgar
and Bob are ably assisted by 19-year-old
Woman Police Constable Meg Connolly,
who goes undercover with Rhonda’s
friends. Edgar’s wife, Emma, once a police
detective sergeant but now a stay-at-
home mother of three, makes some useful
suggestions and investigates when she
can with her female reporter friend, Sam
Collins. Soon, it becomes apparent that
disappearances of a local student nurse
and a mod girl are connected. Griffiths
mixes well-defined characters with a clever
plot. Her examination of the place of
women in 1960s British society should
appeal to readers of procedurals and his-
torical fiction fans. Agent: Rebecca Carter,
Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.(U.K.). (Dec.)
The Kill Club
Wendy Heard. Mira, $15.99 trade paper
(368p) ISBN 978-0-7783-0903-1
Jasmine “Jazz” Benavides, the narrator
of this uneven noir thriller set in L.A. from
Heard (Hunting Annabelle), loves her
13-year-old brother, Joaquin Coleman, and
sees him as often as possible, despite her
volatile relationship with his controlling
adoptive mother, Carol Coleman, who also
raised Jazz after the death of their mother.
A religious fanatic, Carol often refuses
Joaquin his lifesaving diabetic medicine,
keeps him out of school, and locks him in
his room with no way to escape, all before
disappearing with the boy without a
trace. An anonymous caller offers Jazz a
“permanent solution”: murder a stranger
who may be a drug dealer, rapist, or an
abuser—and, in turn, someone will
murder Carol. As Jazz weighs the moral
ramifications, she learns that such murders,
dubbed the Blackbird Killings by the
police, have been going on for a while. The
loving relationship between Jazz and book-
smart Joaquin adds realism, as does the
background of their connection. The clever
finale makes up in part for an unbelievable
villain and an unwieldy center that sub-
stitutes violence for real storytelling. Fans
of Stranger on the Train scenarios will find
much to like. Agent: Lauren Spieller, Triada
US Literary. (Dec.)Sidewalk Saint
Phillip DePoy. Severn, $28.99 (224p)
ISBN 978-0-7278-8957-7
In DePoy’s enjoyable fourth mystery
featuring reformed crook Foggy Moscowitz
(after 2018’s Icepick), Foggy, who was once
“Brooklyn’s finest Jewish car thief,” now
lives in Fry’s Bay, Fla., where he has
managed to start a new life as a Child
Protective Services investigator. He
becomes involved in a complex inquiry
after Nelson Roan, an escaped prisoner,
breaks into his home. At gunpoint, Roan
asks Foggy to find his 11-year-old
daughter, Etta, who was put into the child
welfare system
after his wife
died of cancer.
Foggy tracks the
missing girl to
Lake City, where
he finds that her
adoptive par-
ents have moved
out of their
home and that
someonedirected the post office to forward their
mail to Foggy’s office address. Things only
get more mysterious after Foggy learns
that gangsters are seeking Etta, who has a
photographic memory. DePoy succeeds at
making the over-the-top elements plau-
sible in this effective blend of humor and
an original plotline. Readers will hope to
see a lot more of Foggy. Agent: Janet Reid,
New Leaf Literary. (Dec.)Murder at the Opera:
An Atlas Catesby Mystery
D.M. Quincy. Crooked Lane, $26.99 (336p)
ISBN 978-1-64385-235-5
At the outset of Quincy’s superior third
Regency mystery (after 2018’s Murder in
Bloomsbury), Atlas Catesby is helping Lady
Roslyn Lilliana Warwick into a carriage
after a Covent Garden opera performance
when they hear
screams amid
the crowd.
Rushing to
help, Atlas finds
a woman dead
from a pistol
shot. The victim
is Wendela
Pike, the long-
time mistress of
Atlas’s former
brother-in-law, the Marquess of Vessey.
Long suspecting Vessey of causing his
sister Phoebe’s fatal fall down a staircase 20
years earlier, Atlas sees the marquess as
the likely culprit. But Vessey has an alibi,
and other suspects abound. With Lilliana’s
help, Atlas investigates the turbulent lives
of Wendela’s illegitimate son, clergyman
Samuel Brown, and her jealous rival at
Covent Garden, Juliet Jennings.
Meanwhile, Atlas’s love for Lilliana
deepens, though her status as the daughter
of a duke makes him afraid to declare his
feelings. With its well-plotted mystery,
nuanced depiction of London society, and
appealing characters, this entry is the
series’ strongest to date. Regency fans will
be rewarded. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal
Lyon Literary. (Dec.)★ Dread Journey
Dorothy B. Hughes. Penzler, $25.95 (216p)
ISBN 978-1-613161-45-6; $15.95 trade paper
ISBN 978-1-613161-46-3
Cornell Woolrich meets Agatha Christie