Review_FICTION
48 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ JANUARY 27, 2020
Review_FICTION
doom and provides front-page stories for
her Savannah newspaper. Then everything
implodes, and Harper is on the run,
tracking a killer while another killer
tracks her. With help from her newspaper
colleagues and ex-beau Luke Walker, she’s
determined to solve Xavier’s disappearance
and put her own dark past behind her. In
lesser hands this complex tale of love and
revenge might falter, but Daugherty never
sounds a false note. Agent: Madeleine
Milburn, Madeleine Milburn Literary
(U.K.). (Mar.)Coconut Layer Cake Murder
Joanne Fluke. Kensington, $27 (304p)
ISBN 978-1-4967-1889-1
In bestseller Fluke’s pleasing 25th
Hannah Swensen mystery (after 2019’s
Chocolate Cream Pie Murder), bakery shop
owner and amateur sleuth Hannah cuts
short her California vacation and rushes
home to Lake Eden, Minn., after receiving
an emergency call from her sister, Michelle.
Darcy Hicks, a high school classmate of
Michelle’s police detective boyfriend,
Lonnie, has been murdered, and the pri-
mary suspect is Lonnie. The night before
the murder, Lonnie took Darcy home from
a bar and passed out in her house, where
he discovered her dead the next morning.
Obviously, Lonnie can’t investigate, and
neither can his partner on the force, Mike,
so Hannah’s detecting skills are needed
more than ever. Together with friends and
family, including Mike, Hannah sets out
to learn the truth, and, as she eliminates
one potential killer after another, things
begin to look even darker for Lonnie.
Mouthwatering recipes and diverting
subplots add to the fun. Fluke demonstrates
why she’s considered the queen of culinary
cozies. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen
Agency. (Mar.)★ Woman on the Edge
Samantha M. Bailey. Simon & Schuster
Canada, $16 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-1-
9821-4455-5
At the start of Bailey’s nail-biting debut,
new mother Nicole Markham approaches
social worker Morgan Kinkaid on a Chicago
subway platform and urges Morgan to
take her baby. Morgan, whose husband,
Ryan, recently committed suicide after
being convicted of embezzlement, doesn’t
recognize the woman, yet Nicole calls herMadeleine Milburn Literary (U.K.). (Mar.)Trace Elements
Donna Leon. Atlantic Monthly, $27 (288p)
ISBN 978-0-8021-4867-4
At the start of bestseller Leon’s thought-
provoking 29th mystery featuring Venetian
Commissario Guido Brunetti (after 2019’s
Unto Us a Son Is Given), Brunetti and his
colleague, Commissario Claudia Griffoni,
are called to a hospice at the request of
38-year-old Benedetta Toso, who’s dying
of cancer. Though Benedetta isn’t fully
lucid, Brunetti and Griffoni learn that she
suspects foul play in the recent death of her
husband, Vittorio Fadalto, a water distri-
bution technician employed by the firm
Spattuto Acqua. Vittorio drowned when his
motorcycle went off the road, yet he had a
reputation for careful behavior when it
came to safety. His wife hints that Vittorio
was involved in something dishonest, and
the expert online sleuthing by a colleague
of Brunetti’s uncovers disturbing financial
transactions. Brunetti sets out to examine
employee activities at Spattuto Acqua,
which is charged with maintaining the
integrity of Venice’s water supply. As
usual, Leon adroitly portrays the complex
questions of what constitutes justice and
the sad consequences that can result from
its pursuit. This long-running series shows
no sign of losing steam. Agent: Susanne
Bauknecht, Diogenes Verlag (Switzerland).
(Mar.)Revolver Road:
A Harper McClain Mystery
Christi Daugherty. Minotaur, $27.99 (304p)
ISBN 978-1-250-23588-6
Daugherty’s winning third Harper
McClain mystery (after 2019’s A Beautiful
Corpse) finds intrepid Savannah, Ga.,
reporter Harper on Tybee Island, where
she has been lying low since receiving a
threatening phone call from “a man who
knew far too much about her mother’s
murder” 16 years earlier. On the resort
island, she eventually gets drawn into the
disappearance of eminent musician Xavier
Rayne, who was staying there. Xavier’s
bandmates describe him as moody and
contemplative, taking off for hours or days
at a time. But this time is different: the
band was supposed to go on tour to sup-
port a new album. Writing about Xavier
keeps Harper’s mind off her impendingMohr, a judge’s
widow. Zofia
questions the
home’s staff and
residents, hiding
her unofficial
investigation
from both the
mother superior
and her husband.
After Mohr’s
suspiciously
pink-hued corpse is found in an attic,
Zofia pressures the resident doctor until
an autopsy reveals cyanide poisoning. The
strangling of one of the home’s impover-
ished residents complicates the puzzle. The
preface offers helpful context on place and
period, while the translation showcases
the novel’s deliciously ironic voice. Fans
who like colorful locales and tongue-in-
cheek mysteries will eagerly await Zofia’s
next outing. (Mar.)Darling Rose Gold
Stephanie Wrobel. Berkley, $26 (320p)
ISBN 978-0-593-10006-6
The release of 58-year-old Patty Watts
from an Illinois prison kick-starts Wrobel’s
diabolically plotted debut. It wasn’t until
Patty’s daughter, Rose Gold, turned 16
and gained internet access that she realized
her mother had been poisoning her since
infancy; Rose Gold’s undiagnosable illness
was actually ipecac-induced vomiting
resulting in crippling malnutrition. Rose
Gold’s testimony not only helped convict
Patty, but pitted all of the dying town of
Deadwick against her, so it’s a shock when
Patty finishes her sentence and moves in
with Rose Gold—now a 23-year-old single
mother to two-month-old Adam. Patty is
determined to win back the neighbors
and regain control of her daughter’s life;
unbeknownst to Patty, however, Rose
Gold has plans of her own. Rose Gold’s
past-tense narration, which chronicles her
rocky path to independence, alternates with
present-tense chapters from Patty’s point
of view documenting her postincarceration
transformation from predator to prey.
Propulsive pacing, a claustrophobic setting,
and vividly sketched characters who are
equal parts victim and villain conspire to
create an anxious, unsettling narrative.
Psychological suspense fans will be well
satisfied. Agent: Madeleine Milburn,