The death of innocence lends a bittersweet tone to Simon's third crime novel (after 2005's Body Scissors
) to feature Dan Reles, a world-weary, middle-aged Austin, Tex., homicide detective who sees himself as a "six-foot, New York-born, ex-boxer Jew with a Mafia grunt father" and a loser with women. In April 1995, Reles has been on the force for almost 20 years and wants to be promoted. When he's called to the suspicious "suicide" scene of a former TV child star, 18-year-old Faith Copeland, he knows solving this high-profile crime might get him the recognition he needs. Meanwhile, homicide sergeant Catarina "Cate" Mora searches for Rolando "Rolo" Ortiz, a cute 13-year-old runaway whose mother has been wrongfully imprisoned. Both cops are horrified when Rolo's body turns up in the Texas lieutenant governor's bed, but making the connection between the two tragedies yields even more disturbing, if far-fetched, revelations about an extreme religious sect and political corruption. (Aug.)
