Fireball

At the start of Sangster’s recently found, irreverent fourth James Reed novel (after 1987’s Blackball), Reed, a former London cop turned beach bum, meets Megan McCoy, an attractive visitor from New York, at L.A.’s West Malibu Tennis and Racquet Club. Their mutual attraction and her interest in renting his beach house lead to dinner and the hope of a more sensual encounter. After dinner, Megan is attacked in the club parking lot by her jealous, estranged husband, who has been stalking her. Despite Megan’s fears her husband will find her at her hotel, Reed drives her back there, and she’s found dead in her room the next day. Initially viewed by the police as a suspect, Reed begins an investigation that takes him to New York City, where he attempts to unravel the layers of deceptions surrounding Megan’s life. He soon realizes his life is in danger as multiple parties compete to get an envelope he found in Megan’s car containing a key to a locker, which holds blackmail material on her crooked employer. Raymond Chandler fans will welcome this posthumous gift from Sangster (1927–2011). (Feb.)