A Killer’s Code

Maldonado’s inspired third adventure for Daniela Vega (after A Forgotten Kill) finds the FBI agent reeling from new developments relating to her father’s death. A decade after Dani’s testimony put her mother, Camile, in a psychiatric facility for killing her father, evidence has emerged exonerating Camile. As a result, Dani plans to take time off work to repair her and her mother’s rocky relationship. Those hopes get dashed when the FBI director receives a flash drive from recently dead hit man Gustavo Toro, whom Dani met while working undercover. In video message on the flash drive, Toro explains that it contains a code that, once deciphered, will reveal who hired him to carry out his killings and offer key evidence in a host of unsolved crimes. Daniela is roped onto the team tasked with cracking the cipher, and she unravels dark secrets from Toro’s past. As in the previous books, Maldonado leverages her law enforcement background to lend the proceedings weight and authenticity, while flashbacks predating Toro’s death ratchet up the suspense. This series continues to impress. Agent: Liza Fleissig, Liza Royce Agency. (Jan.)