Drown Her Sorrows

At the start of Leigh’s nail-biting third Sheriff Bree Taggert mystery (after 2020’s See Her Die), Bree is called to the scene of an abandoned car parked on a bridge along a back road somewhere in Upstate New York. A license plate check identifies the car’s owner as 34-year-old Holly Thorpe, who’s a bookkeeper at a local construction company. When Bree follows the river below the bridge, she comes across Holly’s body. A search of Holly’s purse left inside the car produces a suicide note. Apparently, Holly jumped to her death, but an autopsy reveals she was dead before she hit the water. For help on the case, Bree turns to Matt Flynn, a former deputy sheriff who now consults on an as-needed basis. That Bree and Matt have recently begun a relationship adds some romantic heat. The tension rises when Holly’s employer, one of several plausible suspects, is murdered. As Bree and Matt try to determine whether the killings are linked, the suspense steadily builds toward a shocking conclusion. Fans of contemporary police procedurals with a strong romance element will be well satisfied. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary. (Mar.)