Reckoning and Ruin: A Tai Randolph Mystery

Tai Randolph has to deal with one peril after another in Whittle’s twisty fifth novel featuring the Atlanta gun shop owner (after 2014’s Deeper than the Grave). If it isn’t the possibility that boyfriend Trey Seaver, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident the previous year, will do something crazy, it’s the intentions of an anonymous stalker, who sends Tai cryptic messages. Meanwhile, Tai must tackle the complex problem of her ex-boyfriend’s sudden disappearance and its connection to the unsavory Savannah, Ga., side of her family—in particular, her cousin Jasper Boone, the leader of a Ku Klux Klan splinter group. Jasper, who’s “awaiting trial on charges from criminal trespass to felony assault to conspiracy to commit murder,” has a new lawyer and a scheme that could create big financial trouble for Tai and Trey. Readers should be prepared for a shocker of an ending. (Apr.)