The Missing Witness: A Quinn & Costa Thriller

The plight of Los Angeles’s homeless population undergirds bestseller Brennan’s action-packed fifth adventure for LAPD detective Kara Quinn and her boyfriend, FBI agent Matt Costa (after Seven Girls Gone). Kara is back in L.A. to testify against David Chen, a sweatshop owner and human trafficker who put a price on Kara’s head after her investigations led to his arrest. When Chen is gunned down on the way to court one morning, his driver notices a young woman fleeing the scene. Is she the murderer or a witness? Kara attempts to track down the runaway woman and find out. Before long, someone tries to kill Kara as well, then frames her for the murder of one of Costa’s FBI colleagues. Brennan packs the proceedings with a large cast of potential suspects and a jumble of incidents that eventually reveal themselves to be links in the chain of a full-blown conspiracy to cheat the California government out of funds set aside to address homelessness. All the while, the pace never flags, even as Brennan adds a welcome new chapter to Kara’s backstory. Series fans will walk away satisfied. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (Jan.)