Dark of Night

In Nickless’s sequel to 2021’s At First Light, a somewhat overcrowded tour of the dark side of the antiquities trade, Evan Wilding—professor of semiotics at the University of Chicago and hopelessly yearning would-be lover of homicide detective Addie Bisset—is pulled into a dangerous milieu when his old mentor, historian Elizabeth Lawrence, is killed by a cobra’s bite. Evan wants to prove that Elizabeth didn’t die by suicide and that she wasn’t part of the dubious commerce in biblical relics. Besides sharing information with Addie, he gets help from enigmatic Ronen Avraham, probably an Israeli spy, who claims he just wants countries to keep possession of the physical evidence of their history. Meanwhile, millionaire William Kelley had hired Elizabeth to authenticate manuscripts for his huge museum to demonstrate the truth of the Old Testament. Evan and his immediate circle fascinate, though readers may struggle to keep track of the many secondary characters who swarm around Kelley’s project, drawn by money and fame—and in at least one case by murderous dread that some of the ancient scrolls might contradict the Bible. Fans of religious thrillers will have fun. Agent: Christina Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Nov.)