Last Ferry Home

San Francisco homicide detective Michael O’Higgins, the hero of this haunting tale of loss from Harrington (Dark Ride), has yet to recover from the trauma of his wife’s death in a boating accident outside the Golden Gate Bridge. A year after the tragedy, the sight of open water still paralyzes him. Therapy hasn’t helped and he’s sent his teen daughter to his sister in Sacramento. On his first day back at work after bereavement leave, O’Higgins realizes that investigating a double murder at a Pacific Heights mansion won’t be routine, because one victim is Indian businessman Rishi Chaundry, whose father is poised to become India’s next prime minister, and the other is Bharti Kumar, the family nanny. The police suspect Rishi’s widow, Asha, who may have been jealous of her husband’s attentions to the attractive young Bharti—and who later encounters a charming art dealer who could be a serial killer. O’Higgins’s affair with a female cop who has severe anger issues complicates the case. San Francisco native Harrington uses his trademark narrative jumps to heighten the suspense in this long-awaited return to his dark hometown turf. (Mar.)