In Cannon's suspenseful second Roxanne Prescott mystery (after 2001's Guns and Roses
), the down-to-earth detective and her colleagues at the San Diego Sheriff's Department search for clues to the murder of adoption agency CEO Sam Brennan, found in his home bludgeoned to death with a statuette of Michael Jackson. The host of suspects includes Brennan's two ex-wives and a spurned lover. The complex web of mystery intensifies when Prescott unearths information about the extent of Brennan's wealth, his eclectic collections, tell-all book deal and his agency's niche business of reuniting adopted children with their birth families. Prescott sets a trap to entice the killer as this expertly paced police procedural advances to a startling conclusion. (Apr.)
