Bloody Royal Prints

Williams’s middling fourth Coleman and Dinah Greene mystery (after 2014’s Fatal Impressions) takes Dinah from New York to London, where she has received a fellowship at the Art Museum of Great Britain. Dinah’s insufferable husband, Jonathan Hathaway, also travels to London, but business leaves him little time for her. The one bright spot is her friendship with art dealer Rachel Ransome, who introduces Dinah to Princess Stephanie, a distant relative of the royals. When someone robs Stephanie, Dinah and Rachel agree to investigate. Before they can do so, Stephanie finds a body in her flat, and the Palace Police, a sort of vigilante group, treat Rachel with hostility and seem to have official sanction to do so. Dinah asks her cousin and close friend, Coleman Greene, to come to London, but, in one of too many convenient occurrences, Coleman is already on the way. Dinah’s subservience to the awful Jonathan will dismay many readers. (July)