In Cooper's amusing eighth Sheriff Milt Kovak mystery (after 2003's Lying Wonders
), the Oklahoma lawman arrives in Las Vegas, Nev., for an overdue vacation, only to get embroiled in an assault and battery case. His cousin, Maida Upshank, in town visiting her daughter, Denise, begs Milt to bail out her husband, Burl, who's been arrested for beating up his son-in-law. It appears Denise's husband, Larry Allen, attacked his pregnant wife. Kovak gets Burl released under his recognizance, but Burl disappears just in time to be the prime suspect in Larry's subsequent murder. Maida summons her five geographically scattered sons to help Milt find Burl, but the brothers' personality differences cause friction and scant progress. Meanwhile, back in Prophesy County, Kovak's second-in-command, Emmett Hopkins, longtime widower, embarks on a not-so-graceful, midlife office romance. Between the Sin City shenanigans and Hopkins's humorous woes back home, this light romp should leave readers satisfied. (Mar.)
