Rat Poison

Action trumps plausibility in Duffy’s 15th mystery set in Bath featuring husband and wife ex-MI5 agents Patrick Gillard and Ingrid Langley (after 2010’s Corpse in Waiting). Det. Chief Insp. James Carrick asks Gillard and Langley, who now assist the Serious Organized Crime Agency, to repel an incursion into Bath by a vicious London mobster known as “Uncle,” for murdering his own nephew. Gillard and Langley engage in lone-wolf heroics that heighten the suspense but defy common sense. That their survival is never in doubt undercuts the tension. Some may wonder how the couple, who are married for the second time to each other, can manage a complicated household that includes five children, two of whom are adopted, without their police work suffering. Crime fiction fans who like a quick page-turner with plenty of violence and brushes with death will be most satisfied. (Feb.)