But Remember Their Names: A Cynthia Jakubek Mystery

The pseudonymous Locke's promising debut, the first in a projected series, introduces Cynthia Jakubek, a recent Harvard Law School graduate whose entry to a heavy-hitting Wall Street firm is "deferred" by the 2008 financial crisis. While waiting for her stalled legal career to resume, Cynthia returns to the blue-collar Pittsburgh neighborhood where she grew up to live with her widowed father, a tool salesman, and intern for a local defense attorney. When the body of philanthropist T. Colfax Bradshaw is found in a Pittsburgh history museum's Battle of Lexington tableau, Cynthia winds up representing Bradshaw's 17-year-old daughter, Caitlin, in a case that involves the real-life unsolved art theft from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Locke, herself a lawyer, convincingly depicts nuances of class, race, and the law. Her heroine's strong first-person voice bodes well for future Cynthia Jakubek outings. (July)