One Through the Heart

An unusual plot distinguishes Russell’s third procedural featuring San Francisco homicide inspector Ben Raveneau (after 2012’s Counterfeit Road). The disappearance of grad student Ann Coryell in 2002 has always haunted the inspector, who was the last to see her alive and missed a late-night phone call from her asking for help. A decade later, the discovery of a bomb shelter, found to contain 14 skulls, near where she was last seen reopens the cold case and its psychic wounds. The detective comes to wonder whether the tragedy was linked to Coryell’s area of study, the genocide of the Native Americans, a crime that she believed the U.S. still needs to come to terms with. After a call threatening violence in retaliation for 19th-century American expansion, the search for the truth about what happened to Coryell becomes a race against the clock. Polished writing and well-constructed situations make this one of Russell’s better books. Agent: Philip Spitzer, Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agency. (Apr.)