In his ninth Bill Donovan mystery (after 2001's Murder on the Waterfront), Edgar-winner Jahn joins the ranks of those attempting to use the attacks on the World Trade Center as a plot device, with indifferent results. Murder interrupts NYPD captain Donovan's quiet day at the beach with his wife and son: the battered corpse of a Donald Trump–like developer surfaces in the basement of an old-fashioned candy store, whose future has been jeopardized by the developer's gentrification scheme. The captain interviews the many who wished the man dead, including an ex-wife, his mistress and members of the Coney Island Committee for Common Sense, which hoped to preserve the community. The superficial depiction of New York City, the one-dimensional characters and the almost arbitrary solution, which offers little room for Donovan to exercise his skills, fail to engage the reader. (Aug. 4)
