Black and Blue

In Edgar finalist Rosenfelt’s outstanding third Doug Brock novel (after 2018’s Fade to Black), Brock, a New Jersey State Police homicide lieutenant who lost some of his memories after being shot in the head several years earlier, hopes this handicap won’t compromise a high-pressure investigation. Someone shot attorney Alex Randowsky through the heart as Randowsky was leaving a tennis court. The m.o. is identical to the murder of affluent businessman Walter Brookings, who was killed shortly before Brock’s brain injury; Brock has no independent memories of his role in investigating that case. But as he reviews the case files, he’s haunted by the possibility that gun collector Danny Phelan, a suspect he dismissed in Brookings’s death, and who was in prison between the two killings, is actually responsible for both deaths. The investigation takes a personal turn when the killer sends Brock a taunting note, stating that he’s already taken two lives, with 98 more to go. Dead ends and red herrings abound as the action builds to a jaw-dropping reveal. Rosenfelt knocks it out of the park with this fiendishly twisty serial killer thriller. [em]Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (Mar.) [/em]