Shadow Hill: A Geneva Chase Crime Reporter Mystery

In Kies’s memorable fourth mystery featuring PI and occasional freelance journalist Geneva Chase (after 2019’s Graveyard Bay), Eric Cutter hires Geneva to open a fresh investigation into the shooting deaths of his parents, Julia and Morris Cutter, a retired CEO of CP&G, an oil company. The couple were found dead in their upscale Sheffield, Conn., home in what the police ruled a murder-suicide. Morris was about to present a report subsidized by CP&G to Congress with the purpose of stalling legislation on climate change to allow the company time to roll out an international publicity campaign to sway the public to their view and increase their corporate earnings. Morris’s death delayed the report, but the pressure mounts for Geneva to quickly wrap up the investigation. The stakes rise as the report’s lead researcher disappears, as does Morris’s estranged climatologist daughter, and Geneva unearths secrets both spouses kept from each other and rumors of embezzlement. Complex characters and brisk plotting make this a winner. Readers will look forward to Geneva’s further adventures. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron Assoc. (July)