Every Kind of Wicked

Bestseller Black’s so-so sixth thriller featuring Cleveland PD forensic expert Maggie Gardiner and homicide detective Jack Renner (after 2019’s Let Justice Descend) deepens the connection between her two leads. Maggie is aware of Jack’s many secrets, including his carrying out of vigilante executions of criminals, both in Cleveland and in other cities where he’s worked as a cop under different names. To add to the complex relationship, Maggie’s life has “not been the same” since she made a “violent decision,” which only Jack knows about. Against this fraught background, Maggie assists Jack in solving the murder of Evan Harding, whose stabbed corpse was found in a cemetery with a key taped to his leg. Evan’s girlfriend becomes a person of interest after the investigators learn she lied to them about Evan’s employment. Two more murders complicate the inquiry, and Black tosses in a gratuitous child-in-peril scene. Awkward prose (“her fury would make Genghis Khan look like Strawberry Shortcake”) can distract. Fans already emotionally invested in the characters will best appreciate this one. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Agency. (Aug.)