No way out A novel

Following In the Dark, the third in Hunter's best-selling British police procedural series is published in the States for the first time. It's after midnight on Jan. 4, 2018, when firefighters in Oxford, England, face a terrible house fire that may have been set. A toddler is dead, and a 10-year-old boy is rescued, but is on the brink of death. Detective Inspector Adam Fawley and his team search for the missing parents while also investigating the fire as a murder case. There were problems in the Esmond household. The father, Michael, failed to show up to present at an academic conference; Samantha, the mother, struggled with postpartum depression. When Michael's brother arrives, he's unable to assist the police with their investigation. It will take meticulous work to uncover the truth. Flashbacks, newspaper accounts, phone records, and arson reports are compiled to reveal family secrets that led to a ghastly tragedy. VERDICT Readers of Ann Cleeves's series will want to try this well-written story marked by complicated twists to the end and an interesting police team.--Lesa Holstine