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developed characters continue to evolve
as this fine historical series takes a darker
tone with the rise of fascism in Europe.
(Jan.)Poppy Harmon and the Hung Jury
Lee Hollis. Kensington, $26 (282p) ISBN 978-
1-4967-1391-9
In Hollis’s irresistible sequel to 2018’s
Poppy Harmon Investigates, famous aging
crooner Tony Molina is on trial for
assaulting chef Carmine Cicci at the
chef’s Palm Springs, Calif., restaurant.
Soon after PI Poppy, the lone woman on
the jury and the foreperson, delivers a
hung jury vote to the judge, Poppy
notices a slight nod between Molina and
Alden Kenny, the one hold-out juror.
Days later, Poppy finds Alden floating
dead in a swimming pool and winds up
investigating his murder. Meanwhile,
Poppy’s detective agency partners are
focusing on their only paying client,
Rod Harper, whose aspiring singer
daughter, Lara, has gone missing.
Complicating matters for Poppy are the
plight of her daughter, Heather, who’s
up for parole after serving 10 months in
prison for involuntary manslaughter, and
Rod’s amorous overtures. The stakes rise
after Poppy discovers some surprising
connections among Alden, Molina’s wife,
and Lara. Hollis smoothly intertwines
the stories of her distinctive characters.
Cozy readers will look forward to seeing a
lot more of Poppy and company. Agent:
Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary
Management. (Jan.)A Dredging in Swann:
A Seb Creek Mystery
Tim Garvin. Blackstone, $25.99 (350p)
ISBN 978-1-9825-5084-4
Two knotty cases preoccupy fair-
minded, conscientious sheriff’s detective
Sebastian Creek, a former Marine MP
recovering from PTSD, in this intriguing
series launch from Garvin (Bhajan) set in
Swann County, N.C. Leo Sackler, a black
man in his 70s, is found hanged in the
well he was digging on his property just
days after his release from prison, having
served a 48-year sentence for murder.
Sackler had also recently inherited a large
estate and $1 million from a reclusive
widow. Meanwhile, 21 people die when
two Marine helicopters collide over aBucket in Bleak House. The victim is
Edwin Milton-Hayes, an artist who was
slashed to death in his studio by someone
who also vandalized a painting of his
titled Winter of Despair. Collins has a
personal connection to the dead man,
who was scheduled to dine at his home
and also knew Collins’s artist brother,
Charley. The studio contains four other
paintings with ominous titles such as
The Night Prowler and Root of All Evil.
With Charley a prime suspect, Collins
and Dickens team up again to investigate,
pursuing the theory that Milton-Hayes
was blackmailing the people depicted in
the five pictures. Superior plotting and
characterization lift this entry. Fans of
Harrison’s Burren mysteries will be
pleased. Agent: Peter Buckman, Ampersand
Agency (U.K.). (Jan.)Give the Devil His Due:
A Rowland Sinclair Mystery
Sulari Gentill. Poisoned Pen, $15.99 trade
paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-4642-0703-7
Set in 1934 Sydney, Australia, Gentill’s
appealing seventh Rowland Sinclair
mystery (after 2019’s A Murder Unmen-
tioned) opens with artist Rowland showing
off his 1927 Mercedes, which he’s going
to drive in a charity race in aid of the Red
Cross, to reporter Crispin White, who has
come to interview him about the event at
the Maroubra Speedway. White later
turns up dead in Magdalene’s House of
the Macabre, a waxworks “specialising in
ghouls and
whatnot,”
which is
rumored to
host meetings
of a witches’
coven. Since
Rowland’s
friend Milton
Isaacs, self-
defined poet
and proud
communist, was among the last to see
the victim alive, Milton comes under
scrutiny by the police. Occultists, artists,
politicians, backstreet doctors, lowlifes,
high rollers, and even a dashing young
Errol Flynn cross paths in this cleverly
plotted mystery, which will keep readers
eagerly turning pages to see what happens
next. The relationships of Gentill’s well-them. A romantic subplot involving Celia
fails to engage, and the anticlimactic
ending disappoints. Fans of this gifted
writer will hope for better next time.
Agent: Ed Victor, Ed Victor Literary Agency
(U.K.). (Jan.)
The Hollows
Jess Montgomery. Minotaur, $27.99 (352p)
ISBN 978-1-250-18454-2
Set in the fall of 1926 in Bronwyn
County, Ohio, Montgomery’s intricate,
atmospheric sequel to 2019’s The Widows
finds Sheriff Lily Ross called to investigate
the death of an elderly woman who fell
from the top of
the Moonvale
Hollow tunnel
into the path of
an oncoming
train. Was it an
accident, or was
she pushed onto
the tracks by a
ghostly figure
in white, as the
brakeman
insists? Lily learns that the victim, Thea
Kincaide, was an escaped inmate from
the Hollows Asylum for the Insane and a
long-lost cousin to her best friend, jail
mistress Hildy Cooper, who sometimes
looks after Lily’s two young children. In
retracing Thea’s path from the asylum to
the site of her death, Lily discovers dis-
turbing evidence that an evil spirit from
the past is trying to rise again. Realistic
characters complement a great sense of
place. Montgomery does an admirable
job of portraying brave women such as
Lily who must become the support of
their families in the face of their own
grief after their husbands’ deaths. Agent:
Elisabeth Weed, Book Group. (Jan.)
★ Winter of Despair
Cora Harrison. Severn, $28.99 (240p)
ISBN 978-0-7278-8912-6
Harrison’s stellar second Gaslight
mystery improves on 2019’s Season of
Darkness. In 1855, authors Charles
Dickens and Wilkie Collins, who are
close friends despite their differing levels
of literary success, are strolling in
London when they’re summoned to a
murder scene by the real-life Inspector
Field, who inspired Dickens’s Inspector