Gated Prey

Hollywood decadence and duplicity are at the heart of bestseller Goldberg’s entertaining third outing for Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy Eve Ronin (after Bone Canyon). With her partner Duncan Pavone (“a fat man in his late fifties”) just weeks away from retiring, a wrongful death lawsuit hanging over her head, and an agent shopping around a TV series loosely based on her life, Eve is finding it increasingly difficult to do her job, which includes apprehending a gang responsible for a series of violent home invasions in gated communities. When posing as affluent homeowners almost gets Eve and Duncan killed, she discovers that some of her coworkers may be attempting retribution for her recent takedown of a group of corrupt cops. A woman in one of the gated communities who seemingly gave birth at home to a stillborn baby further complicates matters. Lively descriptive prose enhances the tight plot of this episodic crime novel, which reads like a TV show in narrative form. Columbo fans will have fun. Agent: Amy Tannenbaum, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Oct.)