The Burial Hour: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel

The abduction of a business executive on Manhattan’s Upper East Side by a man calling himself the Composer kicks off Thriller Award–winner Deaver’s intriguing, if overly complicated, 13th novel featuring forensic expert Lincoln Rhyme (after 2016’s The Steel Kiss). A witness finds a small hangman’s noose at the scene, as well as a torn currency exchange receipt, which suggests to Rhyme that the man was intending to leave the country. When the Composer later kidnaps a traveler at a remote bus stop near Naples, Italy, he leaves a little noose hanging from the bus stop bench. Rhyme and his lover, Det. Amelia Sachs, fly to Naples, where they join forces with the Italian investigating team led by hard-nosed prosecutor Dante Spiro, who’s initially dismissive of Rhyme. Meanwhile, Charlotte McKenzie, a legal liaison with the U.S. State Department, needs Rhyme’s help with the case of an American college student in Naples who’s been arrested for sexual assault. Too many twists and unlikely connections may puzzle some readers. [em]Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents. (Apr.) [/em]