Blood Lure: A John Jordan Mystery Thriller

Lister’s strong 24th John Jordan mystery (after 2019’s Blood and Sand) puts Jordan, a Florida Gulf County sheriff’s investigator, in the fraught position of second-guessing his sheriff father. In 2014, Sheriff Jack Jordan led the probe into the fate of two young women who had arranged to volunteer at a camp for at-risk kids, but mistakenly arrived a week early. With time on their hands, they set off by themselves on a hike in North Florida’s river swamps, only to disappear. Their bones were eventually found, but forensics were unable to establish whether the women had been murdered or died from some other cause. Six years later, the case is reopened after a true crime book about it is to be adapted for a film. Since Sheriff Jordan’s health is declining, and he fears he’ll be blamed for botching the case, his son winds up teaming with the book’s author to reinvestigate. Amid the suspenseful search for the truth, which includes probing the possible motives of suspects the sheriff never considered, such as the couple who hosted the victims, Lister expertly balances emotion and detection while doling out logical, gut-wrenching twists. This series shows no signs of losing steam. (June)