The quiet, charming wit that’s the hallmark of Brownley’s second mystery to feature floundering British journalist Alison Glasby (after A Picture of Guilt
) makes the book’s watershed moments all the more explosive. When an anonymous source lands Alison in legal hot water over an article she published on police corruption only to disappear soon after, Alison too eagerly turns elsewhere for a sensational story. Eccentric, reclusive Michael Fisher offers to blow the lid off the decades-old death of a school gym teacher. Police corruption, prostitution and anti-Semitism all come into play as Alison tries to make a story out of Fisher’s cryptic claims—all the while attempting to reconcile with her police officer ex-boyfriend and get into the good graces of her patronizing editor. Readers will readily get lost in the rich and adeptly nuanced passages of this engrossing novel. (Oct.)
