The Dead Detective

A lead whose psychology is underdeveloped and an easily solvable puzzle mar Edgar-winner Heffernan's contemporary whodunit, his first novel in seven years. When Florida homicide cop Harry Doyle was 10, his religious fanatic mother tried to kill him and his younger brother, Jimmy, to send them to heaven. The police were able to resuscitate Harry after he technically died, but were too late to save Jimmy. That trauma earned Harry the nickname of the "dead detective" when he joined the force as an adult. With his mother still writing him from jail on the anniversary of her crime, Harry finds distraction in a high-profile murder investigation. Disgraced teacher Darlene Beckett, who slept with one of her teenage students, has turned up in a nature preserve with her throat slashed and the word evil carved into her forehead. Heffernan (Tarnished Blue) has trouble providing clues to the killer's identity without giving the game away. (Oct.)