Fractured Families

January 2, 2017
The discovery of the body of a college kid and 4-H member in the sculpture-filled Garden of Eden, “the strangest place in all Kansas,” kicks off Hinger’s solid fourth Lottie Albright mystery (after 2013’s Hidden Heritage). The subsequent discovery of a frozen baby in the arms of a statue called Reaching Woman raises the stakes. Lottie, the full-time director of the nascent nine-county Northwest Kansas Regional Crime Center, investigates, aided by her deputy sheriff husband, Keith Feine; mystery writer Dorothy Mercer, Keith’s aunt who’s visiting from New York; Lottie’s twin sister, Josie Albright, a forensic psychologist; and abrasive psychologist Dr. Evan Ferguson, a political choice foisted on the NKRCC team. Mercer proves an astute observer with a sharp intelligence as the team uncovers similar infant deaths and possible links to unsolved missing person cases. The diary of a severely handicapped child proves both riveting and pivotal in a tale in which personal relationships and the rural Kansas setting are more satisfying than the mystery itself. Agent: Phyllis Westberg, Harold Ober Associates.

January 1, 2017
The planned Northwestern Kansas regional police department is just coming to birth when its very first case puts the whole concept in jeopardy.Lottie Albright, historian and undersheriff, has been chosen to head the regional police force. While she's showing her husband's aunt, mystery writer Dorothy Mercer, a historic site, they find the body of a local young man in the mausoleum and, even worse, the body of a baby resting on a nearby sculpture. When Lottie calls Frank Dimon of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, he encourages Lottie to coordinate the local effort, though both the KBI and the FBI may become involved. Lottie's husband, retired veterinarian and reserve deputy Keith Fiene, comes aboard. So does Lottie's twin sister, Josie Albright, a clinical psychologist who's helped Lottie before (Hidden Heritage, 2013, etc.). Noticing how clever Dorothy is at spotting clues, Lottie makes her a consultant. The only unfortunate addition is Dr. Evan Ferguson, a narcissistic psychologist forced on the team by pressure from a state representative. The murdered young man's parents are devastated, and his sister, Merilee, is a wreck who's obviously hiding something. Another baby is discovered dead on a statue, and an online search discloses at least one older but similar case. Lottie and Dorothy, meanwhile, have both become fascinated by the commonplace book of Franklin Slocum that's recently been turned in to the historical society. As they read the tale of a physically handicapped young man widely regarded as an idiot, kept by his mother only for the disability check she can claim and left to roam at will, they discover some shocking parallels to their case. Franklin writes an eyewitness account of a man who rapes and kills both young women and boys and buries the bodies in the woods where he roams. Hinger does a wonderful job connecting a young boy's grim life with a horrific crime spree and the knotty problem of for-profit prisons.

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February 1, 2017

A gruesome discovery confronts historian-turned-undersheriff Lottie Albright in Hinger's chilling fourth Kansas-set outing (after Hidden Heritage). Making the transition from scholar to crime fighter, as the Northwestern Kansas regional police center takes shape, was meant to be a gradual process. Instead, Lottie, along with her husband's aunt Dorothy, a visiting Manhattan mystery writer, are immediately plunged into a murder inquiry. The pair find the body of a young man in a Civil War-era mausoleum, and that's not even the most disturbing part: perched on a nearby statue is a baby's corpse. Lottie calls in the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, although it's clear that she's going to be in charge of the case. As experts assemble, clinical psychologist Josie Albright, who has helped her twin sister in previous books, arrives, and it's a good thing, since another baby's lifeless body is found. As Lottie and Dorothy probe, they uncover an older case with parallels to the current investigation. VERDICT Featuring a crime spree and a murderer, both as cold as the Midwestern winter setting, this whodunit will burn like frostbite.

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