Ball Park

Set in 1975, Farrow’s solid seventh outing for Det. Émile Cinq-Mars (after 2017’s Perish the Day) partners Cinq-Mars, who has a reputation as a straight arrow, with Yves Giroux, who knows every unsavory scam a cop can fall prey to. When the pair investigate a robbery at the Montreal home of wealthy Howard Shapiro and his wife, they discover that among the stolen items was Shapiro’s prized baseball, autographed by Jackie Robinson, which proves to be the key to solving a murder and the catalyst for other deaths. After leaving the crime scene, Cinq-Mars and Giroux spot more police activity a few streets over. A young man has been shot to death in his car; on the back seat is some jewelry from the Shapiros’ house. Farrow counterpoints Cinq-Mars’s inquiry with the desperate and dangerous situation of the teenage thief, who’s the target of ruthless killers. Good interplay between the characters, each with a distinctive voice, keeps the tension high. Fans of character-driven police procedurals will be satisfied. [em]Agents: Carolyn Forde and Bruce Westwood, Westwood Creative Artists (Canada). (Nov.) [/em]