Insidious Intent

At the start of Diamond Dagger Award– winner McDermid’s stirring 10th novel featuring Det. Chief Insp. Carol Jordan and profiler Tony Hill (after 2015’s Splinter the Silence), office manager Kathryn McCormick meets an attractive man at a friend’s wedding in the north of England. Less than three weeks later, Kathryn’s body turns up in a burning car. Jordan, who now heads a newly formed regional major incident team, has little evidence to go on. Kathryn didn’t seem like the type to make enemies, but she turns out to be the first in a string of single women who are all killed and set alight in their cars. Jordan and her team members eventually learn that each victim was a guest at a recent wedding where she met a new man. Jordan wants to solve the case not only to get justice for the victims but also to prove to herself, and the world, that she’s able to lead despite her struggle with alcoholism. Even her friend Hill has trouble traversing the complicated emotional space she’s in. The finale will shake readers to their core. [em]Agent: Jane Gregory, Gregory & Company (U.K.). (Dec.) [/em]