Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead

Claire DeWitt can hack into police files, discover hidden evidence, and sort the innocent from the guilty because she’s the best detective in the world. And the mix of drugs she samples helps boost her confidence as she scours New Orleans in search of Vic Willing, a district attorney gone missing during Hurricane Katrina. But mostly, this procedural is about Claire shooting off her mouth and her gun in rapid succession. Carol Monda perfectly renders Claire’s sarcastic repartee and keeps this tightly paced narrative moving quickly. However, Monda struggles with accents, particularly the distinctive Cajun and Creole dialects of New Orleans. Nonetheless, she does produce a host of voices—some more distinct than others—for the book’s many characters and provides narration that is both engaging and entertaining. A Houghton Mifflin Harcourt hardcover. (June)