Blood on the Rocks

British author Masters’s well-plotted 14th mystery featuring Det. Insp. Joanna Piercy (after 2017’s Crooked Street) finds Joanna heavily pregnant with her first child and unhappy at being assigned to investigate 96-year-old Zachary Foster’s disappearance from a residential home on the outskirts of Leek, Staffordshire. As she says to her partner, Det. Sgt. Mike Korpanski: “Hardly a major case. How are the mighty fallen.” She dutifully questions the staff and residents of the home and finds a few too many discrepancies. How could a frail old man suffering from dementia escape from a carefully locked building? What became of his much-loved childhood teddy bear? Was his disappearance part of a larger, more sinister plan? Meanwhile, Joanna wrestles with her own insecurity about her upcoming motherhood and the changes it will bring to her marriage and career. The relationships between Joanna and her husband and colleagues add depth. Fans of character-driven police procedurals will be rewarded. [em]Agent: Juliet Burton, Juliet Burton Literary (U.K.). (Aug.) [/em]