The Magic Line

Sarah Burke looks into a botched drug stash house raid that results in five bodies and a house filled with bullet holes in Gunn’s engaging fourth mystery featuring the Tucson, Ariz., homicide detective (after 2011’s Kissing Arizona). A quick police response nets video of a fleeing man, hapless Zebulon Montgomery Butts, but the real surprise is that one of the “dead,” Robin Brady, escapes while being rushed to the hospital. Burke and her cohorts must use all the tools at their disposal to identify and capture Zeb and Brady. Meanwhile, Brady, the raid’s mastermind, uses his wits and daring to elude the police, and Zeb stumbles into a haven doing odd jobs for elderly, feisty Doris Duncan. Brady earns the police’s reluctant admiration, while Zeb’s predicament earns the reader’s sympathy. Gunn pulls it all together in a satisfying fashion that should entice readers to seek earlier titles in the series. Agent: Jane Chelius, Jane Chelius Literary Agency. (Mar.)