Out of the Blues

Boyce draws on her experience as a retired Atlanta police officer for her uneven debut, which features Sarah “Salt” Alt, an Atlanta native and newly promoted homicide detective. Her first case is the decade-old drug overdose of blues musician Mike Anderson, reopened thanks to a tip from a convicted felon imprisoned for attacking Salt. Her investigation quickly ruffles feathers in the department as she alienates a powerful local pastor, who employs off-duty cops as security guards. A sometimes-choppy narrative, chronological inconsistencies, and a heroine too good to be true—the beautiful Salt is respected by the gang in the housing project she used to patrol, haunted by her cop father’s suicide, adept at aikido, and dating a fellow detective, plus she manages to solve several high-profile homicides in the course of her first case—are balanced by Boyce’s clear passion for Atlanta’s people, culture, landscape, and history. Appreciation for the blues, along with magic realist elements related to the hellhound legend, add dimension to the plot. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Associates. (Feb.)