Rest for the Wicked: A Jane Lawless Mystery

In Hart’s absorbing 20th mystery featuring Minneapolis restaurant owner Jane Lawless (after 2011’s The Lost Women of Lost Lake), Jane looks into the stabbing death of DeAndre Moore, the nephew of Alf Nolan, whose PI agency employs Jane as a fledgling partner. When a dishwasher at GaudyLights, the upscale strip club outside of which Moore was knifed, confesses to the crime, the Minneapolis police close the case. Already distracted by her problematic restaurants and her continually evolving lesbian relationships, Jane nonetheless marshals her considerable energy and wits to uncover a string of connected murders that began in St. Louis more than 30 years earlier. The answers to the killings may lie within the confines of the strip club and in the hands of its smarmy owner, Vince Bessetti, whose questionable relationships are explored in blistering detail. A host of complex characters—all living full, rich, and dangerous lives—bolsters the brisk, suspenseful story. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary. (Oct.)