Old Bones

December 19, 2016
During a Take Back the Night vigil at Atlanta’s Spelman College (a predominately black women’s college), shots ring out, killing one student and wounding 10, in Boyce’s intense if flawed sequel to 2016’s Out of the Blues. The suspects flee in an SUV marked with a Confederate flag, fueling the notion that this was a hate crime. Det. Sarah “Salt” Alt pursues the suspects’ car, but they escape after firing shots at her vehicle. Later, Alt is called out to the discovery of a partially decomposed body, which is soon identified as 14-year-old Mary Marie McCloud. Alt feels a certain responsibility to Mary Marie, a girl she tried repeatedly to help during her days as a beat cop in the projects known as the Homes. Alt, who’s in mandatory counseling for two recent use-of-force incidents, feels responsible for Mary Marie’s death. Despite a scorching-hot plot, Boyce loads her tale with endless exposition; the flimsy characters aren’t strong enough to support the thoughts and ideas she asks them to carry. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Associates.

Narrator Rebecca Lowman successfully reprises her role as Detective Sarah Alt ("Salt") in this second police procedural, which is jam-packed with plot points from Salt's past and present. It's a wonder that Salt has time for the psychological evaluation she's been ordered to undergo, what with policing Spellman's violent student protests, investigating a young stripper's murder, and sussing out her clandestine relationship with fellow detective Wills. Lowman shifts easily between the various strippers, gangster rappers, and cops of Salt's diverse precinct. Her take on these characters seems familiar yet not stereotypical, and they ring true. Since the author leaves plenty of tidbits dangling, we can hope that Salt--and Lowman--will return for a third installment. K.W. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine