The Lost Treasures of R&B: A D Hunter Mystery

George’s lively third D Hunter mystery (after 2011’s The Plot Against Hip-Hop) takes bodyguard and musical-history authority D back to Brooklyn, where he grew up, after his Manhattan security company fails. On D’s last day in his Soho office, Edgecombe Lenox, a former record executive, tells D a story about a phantom record, “Country Boy & Country Girl,” made in 1966 in a spontaneous jam by Otis Redding and Diana Ross. An unnamed British millionaire is prepared to pay D $15,000 to find it for him. Meanwhile, the elusive singer Night, “the great sphinx of R&B” who created the landmark album Black Sex, is planning a comeback and wants D along for the ride, which includes a London tour. George covers a lot of ground with style: the rhythm-and-blues music scene past and present, the sometimes startling evolution of Brooklyn and its environs, and the multitude of hangers-on, wannabes, and grifters who want a piece of the action. (Feb.)