No Time to Die

Mali Anderson, formerly of the NYPD, finds herself investigating a murder close to home when a longtime friend is the victim of a brutal slaying in Harlem. Mali believes that her friend Claudine has been murdered by Claudine's abusive ex-husband, James Thomas, whom Mali has always mistrusted. Despite the doubts of Mali's police detective boyfriend, Tad Honeywell, Mali's suspicion is reinforced when a second victim, also linked to James, is killed in the same manner (strangulation with piano wire). Or is a sadistic serial killer on the loose in Harlem? When Mali is sent to the hospital after someone tries to run her down, she vows to solve the case. Edwards's supporting cast, which includes Mali's jazz musician father, fleshes out the story, which is told in a mixed first- and third-person narration, in the manner of James Patterson's Alex Cross novels. Many of the scenes are set in the restaurants and nightclubs of modern-day Harlem, brought vividly to life. Weakening the tale is the sad but stereotypical background of the murderer and an easily foreseen ending. The intriguing look offered inside its unusual locale makes this mystery, third in the series (after A Toast Before Dying), worth reading despite its predictability. (June)