Dead of Winter

In Hammett Prize winner Jones’s gritty third crime novel featuring Detroit PI August Snow (after 2019’s Lives Laid Away), Snow gets a call to meet with Ronaldo Ochoa, the terminally ill owner of Authentico Foods, in the city’s Mexicantown neighborhood. Ochoa, who employed Snow’s mother for decades, is under pressure to sell out to a real estate speculator claiming to represent Vic Bronson, who “made his fortune selling mortgages and collecting adjustable-rate mortgage balloon payments in an overleveraged housing market.” When Ochoa is found shot dead in his office and Snow’s godfather and best friend, Tomás, is severely wounded, the detective saddles up to investigate and wreak vengeance. He brushes up against Bronson, who responds by sending thugs his way with a message to lay off. It’s the wrong approach to take with hometown hero Snow. Readers should be prepared for a surfeit of foul-mouthed dialogue and a massive body count as the action builds to a violent lakeside showdown and troubling but conclusive revelations. Snow remains a distinctive lead capable of sustaining a long series. [em]Agent: Stephany Evans, Ayesha Pande Literary. (May) [/em]