These Still Black Waters: A Jess Lambert Thriller

McDonald (Do No Harm) comes up short in this middling series kickoff, which follows a traumatized small-town detective as she returns to active duty. Jess Lambert remains guilt-ridden almost a year after her young daughter, Isla, died in a car accident because Lambert wasn’t sober enough to avoid the deer that jumped in front of their vehicle. Though she’s still regularly haunted by visions of Isla, Lambert is determined to show that she belongs in the field by solving the murder of Bailey Nelson, the owner of a property management company in the nearby community of Black Lake. Someone smashed Bailey on the head before injecting her with a sedative, carving an M and four numbers onto her tongue, and dumping her into the lake. Lambert initially suspects Bailey’s newest neighbor, Neve Maguire, who just moved to the area from Boston after a trauma involving her own daughter—but Black Lake is overflowing with secrets. Alternating between Lambert and Neve’s perspectives generates some suspense, but the big reveal is a letdown, and a few twists along the way will strike readers as unfair. Riley Sager has handled similar plotlines better. Agent: Sharon Pelletier; Dystel, Goderich Literary. (Aug.)