Big Breath In

After living with pancreatic cancer for three years, 60-something retired marine biologist Delphine is preparing to stop chemo treatments when an appeal from an old friend thrusts her into danger in this elegiac standalone from Straley (the Cecil Younger series). The request comes from an associate of Delphine’s late husband who’s working to recover a child whose mother surrendered her to black-market baby broker Tyler Dearborn—whom Delphine happens to recognize from her Seattle hospital’s ER. Though undercover sleuthing is one of the last activities she’s equipped for, Delphine craves more action than writing transfer memos to her colleagues in whale research. Soon, she winds up in the middle of a treacherous battle between Tyler’s child-trafficking ring and an Aryan biker gang. Straley seamlessly interweaves heart-pumping action, fascinating insights on whales’ social behavior, and poignant flashbacks to Delphine’s life before she got sick. Though the plot relies heavily on coincidence, its emotional core rings true—largely because of Delphine, whom Straley reveals in the acknowledgments is based on his wife, a former investigator and marine biologist who has Parkinson’s. It’s potent stuff. Agent: Kerry D’Agostini, Curtis Brown. (Nov.)