Moving Targets: A Cal Claxton Oregon Mystery

Angela Wingate, the grown daughter of a prominent Portland, Ore., couple against whom she rebelled as a teen, needs Cal Claxton’s help in Easley’s entertaining sixth mystery featuring the genial lawyer with a strong sense of social responsibility (after 2017’s Blood for Wine). A year earlier, Angela’s rich real estate developer father died of a stroke. Soon afterward, she began to make peace with her estranged mother, Margaret. The two bonded during the Women’s March on Washington, with Margaret returning home determined to shift the focus of Wingate Properties from luxury apartments to affordable housing. Five weeks before Angela’s visit to Cal, Margaret was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Angela now wants justice. Political corruption, collusion with foreign interests, money laundering, and so much more emerge as Cal investigates. Cal treats everyone with the respect and consideration they deserve, but wrongdoers get exactly what’s coming to them. Intelligent dialogue, evocative descriptions of the Oregon landscape, and sly pokes at the current cultural climate make this a winner. (Sept.)