Under a Silent Moon

Bestseller Haynes (Human Remains) ventures into new territory with mixed results in her fourth crime novel. In the English village of Morden, Det. Chief Insp. Louisa “Lou” Smith leads the Major Crimes team, which is looking into the bludgeoning death of groom Polly Leuchars and the subsequent suspicious death of Polly’s neighbor, Barbara Fletcher-Norman. The officers and analysts of “Op Nettle” (the name Ops Planning assigns the Leuchars murder case) uncover a trail of connections and motivations, including sexual entanglements among the suspects and police force. While most of the police procedural elements are strong (Haynes, a police intelligence analyst, provides faux Major Crimes case diagrams in an appendix), she’s less sure in her depictions of various emotional and physical relationships. A parallel investigation into one suspect’s long-term criminal activities is promising, but lacks a satisfactory resolution. Agent: Adrian Weston, Adrian Weston Literary Agency. (Apr.)