Stone Cold Heart

British author Frear’s engrossing follow-up to 2018’s Sweet Little Lies finds 26-year-old Det. Constable Cat Kinsella of the London Metropolitan Police’s Murder Investigation Team hunting 22-year-old Naomi Lockhart’s killer. The night she died, Naomi attended a party thrown by Kirstie Connor, her boss at the recruitment firm where she worked as a temp. The next day, Naomi’s roommate, ex-con and personal trainer Kieran Drake, discovered her in their living room with her head bashed in. All evidence points to Kirstie’s brother-in-law, philandering barista Joseph Madden, who also attended the gathering, but he insists that someone is framing him. As Cat and her colleagues dig into Joseph’s turbulent marriage, she struggles with her own thorny relationship issues. Exceptional characters elevate this otherwise unremarkable police procedural. Nuanced interactions combine with Cat’s inner monologue to imbue even the most mundane scenes with tension and subtext. Frear caps a satisfying mystery with a fraught cliffhanger. Fans will clamor for more. (July)