Rituals: A Faye Longchamp Mystery

A superior puzzle plot lifts Evans’s eighth Faye Longchamp mystery (after 2012’s Plunder). Archeologist Faye and her 17-year-old adopted daughter, Amande, have a job to do in Rosebower, N.Y., a town “with a history full of Spiritualists, religious reformers, and radical feminists.” Not long after they’ve begun their work separating decades of donated junk at the local museum, Faye and Amande have a murder mystery on their hands. Medium Tilda Armistead is the victim of arson, dying of smoke inhalation after escaping a fire set at her home, but in addition to the obvious question of whodunit, Faye must resolve the related one of “why a dying agoraphobic who had traveled only a couple thousand miles since 1972 had driven thirty miles to ask a relative stranger for help.” And what’s a retired magician, known for debunking others’ tricks, doing in town? Evans pulls all the pieces nicely together in the end. Agent: Anne Hawkins, John Hawkins & Associates. (Oct.)