The Next One to Fall

Davidson’s exciting follow-up to her debut, 2010’s The Damage Done, takes travel journalist Lily Moore, who’s still reeling from her sister’s death in The Damage Done, to Peru. Soon after Lily and her photographer best friend, Jesse Robb, overhear an argument between a couple while exploring the ruins of Machu Picchu, they discover a woman of about 30 lying at the bottom of a steep staircase. The fatally injured woman, who says her name is Trista, claims her boyfriend, Len, made her drink some sort of drug, then pushed her down the stairs. When the police dismiss the death as an accidental fall, Lily resolves to get justice for Trista. Len, Lily soon learns, is a rich boy gone bad with a past riddled with missing women. The rich history and geography of Peru add depth to an engrossing mystery that constantly keeps the reader guessing. Agent: Judith Weber. (Feb.)