Leo

Meyer’s excellent eighth novel featuring Benny Griessel (after The Dark Flood) finds the South African police detective longing to return to the high-stakes missions he and his partner, Vaughn Cupido, embarked on before they were exiled from Cape Town for exposing corruption within South Africa’s top intelligence agency. Griessel’s dreams take a hit when his former commander, Mbali Kaleni, who’d promised to reinstate him and Cupido after the uproar quieted down, resigns without explanation. Before the detective can find out what happened, he and Cupido are assigned to investigate the death of a female mountain biker in the usually sleepy village of Stellenbosch. The victim was found with a broken neck and animal bite marks on her legs. Meanwhile, wildlife guide Christina Jaeger’s former partners in crime enlist her in a daring million-dollar theft, which doesn’t go as planned. Meyer expertly interlaces his main narrative threads in shrewd and unpredictable ways, remaining one step ahead of readers as he ushers the plot to a rollicking conclusion. This intelligent page-turner confirms Meyer’s reputation as a master of the police procedural. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management. (Feb.)