Murder in Retribution

Romantic suspense fans will welcome Cleeland’s second New Scotland Yard mystery (after 2013’s Murder in Thrall). The beguiling Det. Constable Kathleen Doyle must adjust to life as a new bride while fighting hostility and gossip about her sudden marriage to the Yard’s most eligible bachelor and top cop, Det. Chief Insp. Michael Acton. Members of Acton’s aristocratic family and his closest friends regard the nuptials with shock and dismay. To cope, Doyle buries herself in work, investigating two homicides that appear to be related to turf battles in London between crime syndicates from Russia and Ireland. As she zeroes in on possible suspects, she becomes increasingly ill and fears someone is out to do her harm. Distinctive characters, including Aiki, a friendly Rwandan cab driver who acts as Doyle’s self-appointed protector, compliment the finely wrought, highly charged plot. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Aug.)