Hard Rain

The violent effects and muddy waters of a flood that devastates Garnett, Tex., provide a richly suggestive backdrop for Allen’s taut sequel to 2022’s Pay Dirt Road, a Hillerman Prize winner. One flood survivor, Bethany Richter, asks apprentice PI Annie McIntyre, an old friend, to identity a stranger who briefly helped Bethany to safety. It’s a rather thin premise for a case, but Annie leaps at the chance to prove herself. Annie’s search leads her to uncover town secrets and scandals, including adultery, drug dealing, unethical real estate transactions, theft, and brutality. When someone is fatally shot, she has to wonder whether the killer could be the stranger she’s seeking. Meanwhile, in an unevenly developed subplot, Annie attempts to sustain a romance with her boyfriend. Keep a pencil handy for making notes on the cast, for there are nearly 20 in an intricately connected social web. Written with some pitch-perfect imagery and an acute awareness of Annie’s longing to make good in her hometown, this intense novel holds its secrets until the final harrowing pages. Regional mystery fans will hope to soon return to Garnett. Agent: Sharon Pelletier, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Apr.)