Desolation Canyon

Quirky, damaged characters drive bestseller Tracy’s outstanding sequel to 2021’s Deep into the Dark. LAPD Det. Margaret Nolan is still carrying guilt from a line-of-duty shooting. Afghan War vet Sam Easton’s PTSD is stirred when he hears rifle shots while jogging in Desolation Canyon near Death Valley. Nolan’s mother, grieving the combat death of her soldier son, goes on a spiritual retreat at the wilderness compound of the Children of the Desert. Father Paul, the sect’s charismatic leader, is so outraged that his consort, Marielle, has fled with their daughter that he recruits a cold-blooded killer—familiar with the preacher’s earlier criminal identity as Roger “Snake” Jackson—to help recover his “stolen property.” Meanwhile, Nolan’s investigation into a corpse dumped in the swan pond at the Hotel Bel-Air leads her to confront an ex-KGB crime boss and to ponder how the kidnapping of the murder victim’s son decades ago could have consequences today. All these plot elements come neatly together as the tension builds along with Father Paul’s drug-fueled paranoia. Tracy should win new fans with this vivid, twisty crime novel. Agent: Ellen Geiger, Frances Goldin Literary. (Jan.)