The Grave Soul

In Hart’s riveting 23rd mystery featuring Minneapolis PI and restaurateur Jane Lawless (after 2014’s The Old Deep and Dark), Guthrie Hewitt, a teahouse owner, is worried about his girlfriend, Kira Adler, who suffers from nightmares about her mother, Delia. When Kira was five, Delia fell into a deep ravine from the back deck of their house in New Dresden, Wis. It was a cold December day, and her frozen body wasn’t found for hours. Was it suicide or a tragic accident? When Kira tells Guthrie that in her dreams her mother is strangled by one or another immediate family member, Guthrie begins to suspect it’s a case of murder. Cordelia Thorn, Jane’s best friend, persuades Jane to investigate the past on Kira’s behalf, though Jane comes to regret her probe when she gets too close to the truth. Readers will be caught up in this harrowing look at the damage done in the name of family preservation. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary. (Oct.)