The Mannequin House: A Silas Quinn Mystery

Set in April 1914, Morris’s second Silas Quinn mystery improves on its standout predecessor, 2012’s Summon Up the Blood. Quinn, the head of an elite Scotland Yard unit, the Special Crimes Department, is in trouble because higher-ups are concerned that he acts too often “as judge, jury and executioner.” With his job in jeopardy, Quinn and his team take on a truly bizarre murder case—a London department store model, Amélie Dupin, has been found strangled behind a locked door, and when entry is forced, a macaque wearing a fez flees the room. Dupin’s employer, Benjamin Blackley, who keeps his models (known as mannequins) under tight wraps, is a natural suspect, but his connections mean that pursuing the theory will further jeopardize Quinn’s professional health. Morris excels at heartbreaking scenes of pain and violence, imbuing a classic whodunit plot with emotion and psychological depth. Agent: Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, Sinclair-Stevenson Literary Agency (U.K.). (May)