As in her debut novel, Constable's Run
(2002), Moore brings her years of experience as a Texas police officer to her second escapist romp to star Reserve Dep. Constable Raven, but her prose too often remains that of a rookie. First, the bizarre Yucatan Jay, who claims to be Raven's cousin and on assignment for the CIA, takes her hostage. Then a mysterious assailant starts targeting Jinx Porter, Raven's boss and ex-boyfriend. A pattern of failure by Porter's department leads to a hunt for a corrupt official who is apparently leaking law-enforcement secrets. For all the action and oddball characters, not enough of substance happens to justify the novel's length, which is dominated by numerous romantic encounters—practically every male, including the teenage son of a colleague, hits on Raven. ("She caught Sid ogling her breasts and folded her arms across her chest. Like beads of water on a hot skillet, fury sizzled behind her eyeballs.") A Mexican standoff with ATF agents that ends when a deputy brandishes a sex toy as a weapon is a typical scene in a book whose attempts at racy humor ("a profile of ponderous knockers threw his beating heart offtrack") won't be to every taste. Agent, Peter Miller.
(Nov.)
FYI:
Moore is also the author of
The Lady Godiva Murder (2002).
