


“The Devil’s Daughter,” by Gordon Reisman (Blackstone)
The gig seems like an easy one for private investigator Jack Coffey: find the teenage daughter of millionaire Louis Garrett. He’ll get $10,000 right away and another $10,000 when the girl is delivered. That’s big money for a 1950s PI, but it’s not so easily earned. The girl is wild and high on booze and drugs, and she is determined not to be caught. A couple of days’ work turns into months of adventure.
Along with his supermodel girlfriend, V (a favorite of Richard Avedon and Irving Penn), Coffey searches his favorite jazz joints in New York, discovers the girl, loses her and later finds her escort dead. The poor man is not the only victim. Bodies fall like sour notes as Jack and V delve into a mystery that involves money, sex and power. (What else would you want in a mystery?) “The Devil’s Daughter” is a first-class noir tale, filled with New York dives, gangsters and celebrities — and the best jazz clubs and musicians in 1950s America.
“Radiant Heat,” by Sarah-Jane Collins (Berkley)
Alison has just escaped a deadly fire that killed 13 people near her Australia home when she discovers the body of a dead woman in a car on the road leading to Alison’s house. She doesn’t know the woman, but when she goes through her purse in search of an identity, she discovers a slip of paper with her own name and address on it. The dead woman looks enough like Alison to be her sister, and the two once lived in the same apartment building in Cairns. Moreover, they shared a violent ex-boyfriend, one who’s tracked Alison to her home in the Outback. As she fears for her life, Alison travels back to Cains to discover why the dead woman came to see her.
“The Vacation House,” by Jane Shemilt (William Morrow)
Sofie’s family are caretakers of a villa in Paxos, Greece, owned by an arrogant billionaire. When Sophie, 13, is assaulted by two guests, her family is uprooted as they flee Paxos. Some 20 years later, the billionaire’s daughter, Julia, is married to a controlling London prep school headmaster. She chafes under his admonition to be a perfect wife. In fact, she’s miserable until she meets a psychologist who encourages her to gain weight, let her hair go and stop writing the headmaster’s speeches.
“The Vacation House’ is told from the standpoint of both Sophie and Julia, whose lives were separated 20 years before but now are about to collide.
“The Missing Witness,” by Allison Brennan (Mira)
Detective Kara Quinn has been in hiding for nearly a year, ever since her partner’s murder and her own near-death experience. She surfaces to testify in the grand jury hearing of the man who wanted her dead — but he’s just been murdered. Minutes later, the district attorney responsible for putting the case together is stabbed to death at Quinn’s side.
Quinn soon learns that her boss, former mentor and a few trusted L.A. police officers and FBI agents are involved in a top-secret undercover operation. They won’t give her the details, but one by one, people Quinn trusted are suspected of being double agents. She’s lost in a world of conspiracies. As she peels back the layers of the undercover operation, she finds that the people she trusted most have covered up the biggest surprise of all. Who can she really trust? Only FBI agent Matt Costa.
“Halifax Resurrection,” by Roger Simson (Black Stone)
Australian forensic psychiatrist Jane Halifax is run off the road in a near-fatal accident that leaves her with total memory loss. As she slowly heals, she cannot recollect vital parts of her life, including the accident and even her relationship with the attentive Tim. She does remember that she was obsessed with a case in which she’d testified 20 years earlier, in which the client was convicted and committed suicide. Jane never forgot him and wondered if the conviction was her fault. When the man’s sister contacts her, Jane forms an attachment to her that helps her memory return.
Still, gaps remain, and Jane must remember details of the mysterious accident, which may have been attempted murder. She also must make decisions about her career and about Tim.
“The Bishop and the Butterfly,” by Michael Wolraich (Union Square)
In 1930s New York, politics was solidly under the thumb of Tammany Hall. Criminals ran free as long as they paid off cops and the Tammany bosses. But after newspaper coverage exploded over the murder of Vivian Gordon, a beautiful con artist and good-times girl, the public had enough. Despite being under Tammany’s thumb, Gov. Franklin Roosevelt appointed Judge Samuel Seabury, known as “the bishop” for his impeccable honesty, to clean things up. The judge’s zealous investigation cleaned up New York’s police force and destroyed Tammany’s power. And Vivian’s killer was identified in the process.
The nonfiction “The Bishop and the Butterfly” delves into the life of poor Vivian and the lengthy investigation that exposed New York’s corrupt justice system.
“The New Couple in 5B,” by Lisa Unger (Park Row Books)
For Rosie and Chad, inheriting his uncle’s $4 million swanky New York City apartment is about the best news in the world. Then Rosie, a writer, is offered a lucrative book contract, and Chad, an actor, scores the lead in a new series. Life just doesn’t get any better.
But it does get worse.
The apartment building was the site of numerous murders and suicides during its 100 years. In fact, a murder-suicide took place in Chad and Rosie’s apartment, 5B. There is a malevolent force at work in the building. Rosie encounters the ghost of an evil little boy as well as the murdered wife from her apartment. That apparition warns her to get out. The doorman and the other residents seem to be mocking her. Even Chad says Rosie’s imagining things, but then, he has secrets.
When the uncle’s daughter, who had expected to inherit the apartment, is murdered, Rosie decides to solve the killing. Until she does, life at apartment 5B could be deadly.