British author Bannister opens her well-constructed ninth Brodie Farrell mystery (after 2008's Closer Still
) on a somber note with a coldhearted driver running down a young couple outside a South Downs restaurant. Bobby Carson kills Tom Sanger and seriously injures Jane Moss, his fiancée, to whom Tom had just given an exquisite black star sapphire necklace, which Bobby steals. Bobby is caught and eventually punished, but not before he sells the necklace. Bobby's mother hires Brodie, owner of Looking for Something? (an agency that specializes in finding lost objects), to locate the necklace and return it to Jane. Daniel Hood, Jane's assistant and close friend, and Det. Supt. Jack Deacon, the father of Brodie's sick child, Jonathan, provide emotional backup for Brodie, who seeks a cure for Jonathan's brain tumor. Bannister movingly reflects upon the lies sometimes told for love as Brodie makes a difficult choice in the surprising resolution. (Apr.)
