Hand for a Hand

Scottish author Muir makes his U.S. debut with a ploddingly predictable whodunit, his second to feature Fife Det. Chief Insp. Andy Gilchrist (after Eye for an Eye). When a woman’s severed hand is found clutching a note addressed to Gilchrist on the 17th hole of St. Andrews’ Old Course, he’s determined not only to head the investigation but to identify the victim. As more body parts spring up on the golf course, each with dire messages for Gilchrist, it’s clear that the killer is targeting him. Gilchrist’s rocky relationship with his grown children, Jack and Maureen, becomes even more fraught after the murdered woman is identified as Chloe Fullerton, Jack’s girlfriend, making the detective positive that his daughter will be the next target. While Gilchrist and his team scramble to identify which criminal might hold such a grudge, Gilchrist spends too much of his time blustering about a case that most readers will have cracked early on. Agent: Al Zuckerman, Writers House. (Nov.)