Sidney Sheldon’s The Silent Widow

Consulting psychologist Nikki Roberts takes on a host of bad guys—including vicious Russian mobsters, sadistic Mexican criminals, corrupt Los Angeles socialites, and greedy lawyers—in bestseller Bagshawe’s overwrought fifth contribution to the Sidney Sheldon franchise (after 2014’s Sidney Sheldon’s Chasing Tomorrow). When one of Nikki’s patients, a 28-year-old former model with an elderly billionaire boyfriend, is tortured and killed after she leaves Nikki’s office, the only clue to the perpetrator’s identity is a tiny bit of rotting human flesh found under the victim’s fingernails. Other murders follow, with the press dubbing them the Zombie Murders. LAPD detectives Goodman and Johnson, who take the concept of good cop/ bad cop to a new level, investigate. In particular, Johnson seems set on pinning the crimes on Nikki. Unfortunately, Nikki so consistently misjudges people and situations that it’s difficult to work up sufficient sympathy for her plight or make her professional role credible. Readers will struggle to follow who did what to whom and why. Only Sidney Sheldon buffs are likely to have fun. [em]Agent: Luke Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit. (May) [/em]