Got No Friend Anyhow

In Ehrhart's moody but somewhat draggy second Maxx Maxwell mystery (after 2008's Sweet Man Is Gone), Maxx, a singer in the band Maxximum Blues, discovers that her lover, Rick Schneider, who was producing a CD for the group, is missing from his Nyack, N.Y., home, where she's alarmed to spot a big blood stain on the floor. To add to her distress, she can't find the CD master in Rick's studio. After Rick surfaces in a nearby park with a bullet in his head, Maxx turns sleuth. As she digs into Rick's past as a musician with Meal, an obscure '80s band, she learns that two former Meal band mates are dead, but the two survivors might just hold the key to the resolution of the crime. Ehrhart, who plays blues guitar, brings a cool authenticity and laid-back vibe to Maxx's investigation. (Jan.)