After that, the dark

In Klavan's brilliant fifth mystery featuring Cameron Winter (after A Woman Underground), the Illinois hit man--turned--English professor investigates a baffling cold case. After spending months unpacking his emotional baggage in therapy, Winter is emboldened to ask his acquaintance, Gwendolyn Lord, on a date. When he divulges his violent past over dinner, Gwendolyn responds by recounting the story of a bizarre real-life mystery she learned about from a grad school friend. About five months before, beloved Tulsa community figure Owen McKay was arrested for murdering his wife and their toddler, and placed in a padded, unfurnished cell. Somehow, despite receiving no visitors, he wound up dead from a wound to his heart. Official reports concluded that McKay died by suicide, using a nail gun he'd managed to sneak into his cell, but Winter is unconvinced, and he starts to investigate. Then another murder case with eerie echoes of McKay's alleged suicide crops up in Connecticut, raising the stakes. The solution, when it arrives, hits the sweet spot between logical and surprising, and Winter's romantic entanglement adds depth to his characterization. The author's prose, meanwhile, remains as darkly hypnotic as ever. This series continues to impress. Agent: Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group. (Oct.)

A retired hit man's wish to impress his new love leads him back into a thicket of crime and corruption. During the dinner date they're finally going out on, Chicago area therapist Gwendolyn Lord shares with English professor Cameron Winter a story she's just heard from forensic psychologist Livy Swain, an old school friend, of an impossible crime. Owen McKay, arrested six months ago for killing his wife and son and crying, "It's still there! Still there!," was shot to death with a nail gun inside his closely watched prison cell. Though his initial reaction is idle curiosity, Winter resolves to show off his prowess to Gwendolyn by solving the mystery. Dr. Billy Whitefield, the pathologist who conducted the postmortem on McKay, shares with Winter a monstrous revelation that he's been blackmailed into concealing: He removed a spidery attachment from McKay's brain whose existence was deleted from the official report. After a friend at his college links the implant to Thaumatix--a company whose motto is "We're in the business of miracles"--Winter learns of another case that sounds eerily similar: the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a Connecticut high school student by a previously inoffensive carpenter who's killed before Winter can question him. Surrounded by assassins and amoral corporate overlords, Winter leans more and more into his relationship with Gwendolyn, though the person he most wants to talk to is the Recruiter, the nameless boss he trusted to make life-or-death decisions when he worked as a contract killer. Miraculously, the Recruiter, who's vanished, returns to Winter's life. But what if he can't be trusted any more than everyone else? Fans will relish every high-energy moment without demanding rational explanations for every detail. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.