The Night Gate

In May’s unoriginal seventh and final mystery featuring Enzo Macleod, once Scotland’s leading forensic investigator but now living in France (after 2017’s Cast Iron), Magali Blanc, a forensic archaeologist, persuades Enzo to help in examining the remains of a Luftwaffe officer, with a bullet hole in his skull, unearthed near a medieval village. When he arrives, he’s surprised to see police cars and an ambulance parked closed to Magali’s excavation site. The gendarmes are investigating the recent murder of a well-known Parisian art dealer, whose presence in the village is puzzling. The officer in charge of the case asks Enzo to look over the crime scene. Chapters concerning the historic murder, told from the viewpoint of a French spy, alternate with those focusing on Enzo’s contemporary case. The resolutions of both inevitably collide, with May offering yet another tale of Nazi art theft. Pages of dialogue that give little or no new information provide padding. Series fans will enjoy Enzo’s last hurrah, but this isn’t the place to start for newcomers. Agent: Anthony Goff, David Higham Assoc. (U.K.). (Mar.)