The Big Beyond

In an author’s note, Lister advises you to read 2011’s The Big Goodbye, his first PI Jimmy Riley mystery set in 1940s Panama City, Fla., before this strong sequel, which starts in the middle of things (“When they came to kill me, I was in no condition to defend myself”). The two men who capture Riley inject him with something that knocks him out. When Riley wakes up, he’s strapped naked to a bunk in “a dim dungeon-like room,” where a sinister woman applies electrodes to his penis. Two friends come to Riley’s rescue, one of whom, a Salvation Army nurse, hopes to gain his affections by making herself over into the image of his lost love, Lauren Lewis, who died in the previous book. For good measure, Lister tosses in a serial murder case involving bisected women arranged in artistic poses. The intense ending neatly sets up the next volume in what’s developing into a nicely gritty series. Agent: Amy Moore-Benson, AMB Literary Management. (Apr.)