Watch Me Die

At the start of this gripping romantic suspense thriller from bestseller Spindler (Blood Vines), someone bashes in the head of elderly Father Girod at New Orleans' Sisters of Mercy Catholic School and Church. The unknown killer also spray-paints the church's stained-glass windows with the words: "He will come again to judge the living and the dead." When Det. Spencer Malone questions Mira Gallier, who restored the church's stained-glass windows after Hurricane Katrina six years earlier and still mourns her husband, Jeff, who perished in that catastrophe, the police detective has to wonder why she appears more distraught by the vandalized windows than by Father Girod's death. As the body count rises, Mira becomes one of the chief suspects in the murders. Meanwhile, Jeff's best friend, Connor Scott, returns to New Orleans, and Mira, who can't stop thinking about Jeff, feels guilty about her attraction to Connor. The plot takes numerous twists and turns until reaching the startling conclusion. (June)