Peter Pan Must Die (Dave Gurney, No. 4)

Starred review from May 5, 2014
Nero Award finalist Verdon combines a brilliant puzzle and psychological insight into his sleuth, Dave Gurney, in the stellar fourth novel featuring the retired NYPD homicide detective (after 2012’s Let the Devil Sleep). Much to the dismay of Gurney’s wife, he agrees to work on another case instead of relaxing at the couple’s upstate New York property. Jack Hardwick, who lost his job with the state police after helping Gurney in the previous book, asks the detective to help overturn a murder conviction. Kay Spalter was convicted of shooting to death her husband, Carl, a gubernatorial candidate running on an anti-Mafia platform, at his mother’s funeral, but some people think she was framed. Hardwick wants Gurney simply to identify irregularities in the investigation so as to make an appeal successful, but the only way Gurney knows how to do that is to find the truth. The plot is full of Verdon’s usual challenges (e.g., it was apparently impossible for the murder to have been carried out), but the cleverness is surpassed by the probing analysis of what makes Gurney tick. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Agency.

June 15, 2014
Verdon's successful series-featuring thoughtful, puzzle-solving retired NYPD detective Dave Gurney-adds another chapter with this dark tale of a demented contract killer who becomes entangled with a rich, but disturbed, family.Kay Spalter is in prison for killing her real estate-mogul husband, Carl. But Jack Hardwick, a former New York State police investigator, is out to spring her from her cell. Not because he thinks she's innocent; no, Hardwick hopes to prove police misconduct. Gurney's crude, foulmouthed investigator friend lost his job after assisting Gurney with another case, and now he's knocking on his buddy's door asking for help on the Spalter situation. Initially, Gurney isn't interested, but once he dips his toe into the mechanics of the investigation, he starts seeing all kinds of things that make no sense: crime scenes that fail to add up, missing witnesses, people whose stories contradict the evidence presented in court, and suspects that include a drugged-out daughter and a brother who maintains a questionable online church. When the lawyer going to bat for Kay Spalter turns up dead, it becomes evident that Gurney and Hardwick are dealing with something much larger than a mishandled case. Soon, the two men and Hardwick's stunning police-officer girlfriend, Esti, are on the trail of an insane international hit man. Gurney's fans like the detective's patient unraveling of complex puzzles, as well as his unflappable confidence. However, those new to sidekick Hardwick's brashness and lack of charm may wonder why Gurney would work with him. Verdon has constructed a taut, fascinating tale, but the story gets messy in its final chapters when the retired cop rejects sensible suggestions to bring in the authorities in favor of handling the killer on his own terms, bringing the case to a terrible conclusion.Gurney's and Hardwick's outsized egos interfere with good judgment in this otherwise smoothly written novel.

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Starred review from June 1, 2014
Verdon hit the ground running with his debut novel (Think of a Number, 2010), and he hasn't lost a step through three more fine thrillers. Here retired NYPD homicide detective Dave Gurney is asked to investigate what may be a cooked guilty verdict in the murder of real-estate tycoon and gubernatorial candidate Carl Spalter. He quickly finds evidence that will overturn the conviction and release Spalter's wife from prison, but he also finds hints that the real culprit is a bizarre, almost-diabolical European assassin known as Peter Pan. Gurney concludes that the only way to stop the assassin is to become his next target. Verdon's novels, now read in 20 languages, feature serpentine plots, heightening suspense, skillfully developed characters, and a rich sense of place. Peter Pan Must Die has all of these, but it adds realistic marital tension: Dave's wife, Madeleine, wants Dave to stop risking his life and build a chicken coop, and Dave responds with some insightful introspection before returning to the work that truly animates him. Members of the singularly dysfunctional Spalter family are vividly rendered, and Peter Pan may well be the creepiest fictional psychopath of the year. Mix in bent cops, gangsters, politics, big money, lies, and hints of incest, and you have a wonderfully compelling page-turner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)