Tricky

LAPD homicide detective Niels Madsen, the protagonist of this engrossing mystery from Stallings (Young Americans), is on his way to work when he comes across an armed standoff between a rookie cop he knows and considers trigger-happy and a man at a bus stop. Madsen manages to disarm the stranger, later identified as Francisco Gutierrez, who was left intellectually disabled after a severe beating two years earlier. Gutierrez is standing near the body of David Torres, a low-level thug who apparently was shot with Gutierrez’s weapon. Gutierrez denies killing Torres, whom he considered a friend. But Madsen questions that denial after learning of the suspect’s violent past, which includes a first-degree murder conviction when Gutierrez was 14. Madsen must sort out whether Gutierrez, who doesn’t recall whether he fired the shot that killed Torres, is innocent. Stallings makes Madsen a well-rounded lead, even as he keeps the reader guessing. Those looking for an alternative to standard police procedural whodunits will be rewarded. Agent: Amy Moore-Benson, Meridian Artists (Canada). (Jan.)