The Evil That Men Do: A Dorothy Martin Mystery

Dams’s mild 11th Dorothy Martin mystery (after 2011’s A Dark and Stormy Night) takes American-born Dorothy and her British husband, retired chief constable Alan Nesbitt, to the Cotswolds, where they stumble on a body in an abandoned quarry. After reporting their grim find to the police, they’re nearly run over by a disheveled, blood-splattered young man on a motorcycle, who apologizes, then vanishes. Convinced that this nervous gentleman is somehow connected with the body in the quarry, Dorothy begins to do what she does best: pose as a bemused American tourist looking for information. Her queries, punctuated by endless cups of tea, lead her to a women’s shelter, isolated farmhouses, and eventually into grave danger. The lush Cotswolds scenery and the cast of intriguing locals will appeal to Anglophiles, but the mystery itself is vague, illogical, and far too bland—like a scone without its clotted cream. Agent: Kimberley Cameron. (Feb.)