False Witness

November 6, 2017
Early in Grant’s lackluster third novel featuring Det. Cooper Devereaux of the Birmingham, Ala., PD (after 2017’s False Friend), Deborah Holt’s body is found one morning in front of the gates of Hoover cemetery. Deborah, who’s been strangled, is wrapped in a bed sheet and tied with a bow, and it’s her 20th birthday. Devereaux and his partner, Tommy Garretty, investigate, but the crime scene yields few clues. The next morning, a second Birthday Killer victim is dumped on the grounds of a crematorium. Devereaux and Garretty conduct a series of interviews that lead to busboy Billy Flynn. When they arrive at Flynn’s house to question him, the place explodes into flames. Garretty is injured from the blast, and Devereaux rushes inside to save Flynn. When Flynn, their primary suspect, dies at the hospital, they think the case is closed. Then a third body turns up, and they have more work to do. Some readers may find Devereaux’s eye-rolling swagger a bit much, but the main problem is that the story generates little suspense. Agent: Janet Reid, FinePrint Literary Management.

November 1, 2017
The flawed homicide detective Cooper Devereaux returns for a second outing (False Friend, 2017), this time chasing down a quirky killer in Birmingham, Alabama.Although Lucas Paltrow, a "mysterious mechanic Good Samaritan," saves the pregnant Deborah Holt's life by fixing her car, a year later she's found dead on her 21st birthday, wrapped up like a present. Devereaux and his longtime partner, Tommy Garretty, are assigned to investigate. Soon Siobhan O'Keefe turns up, killed and wrapped in the same way on her 21st birthday. Later there's a third victim, and the unknown assailant is dubbed the Birthday Killer. It's a curious plot that gives the impression the author is straining for something new. One suspect is Deborah's boyfriend, the sarcastically described "guitar legend Thor," aka Oliver Casey, a "twenty-four carat scumbag." Others include Paltrow and his co-worker Billy Flynn, who has a sealed juvie record. When Flynn's house explodes and Devereaux wants to save him, Garretty helpfully advises, "Screw Flynn. The odds are he's a murdering asshole." The blistering scene that follows is well-done, as are Devereaux and Flynn by the end of it. A couple of subplots help tie the series together. The dying Chris Lambert, a former Police Academy instructor, plots to blackmail Devereaux, who had a checkered childhood and may be "the spawn of a mass murderer." Or not. And Devereaux's former girlfriend Alexandra is conflicted about getting back together with him, because "she simply wasn't comfortable in a relationship with the son of a mass murderer." Meanwhile, whatever might be revealed about his troubled past, Devereaux has become a good adult. It's hard to see how the author continues with these subplots--Just how bad was Dad? Will Alexandra ever make up her mind?--without letting them get stale.Overall, a good story with a multilayered hero. The author's fans won't be disappointed.

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November 15, 2017
In his third outing (following False Friend, 2017), Alabama detective Cooper Devereaux searches for a killer who kidnaps women on their twenty-first birthdays and leaves their wrapped-up bodies in public places. Initially, a few well-placed red herrings keep the reader hopping from suspect to suspect. Finally, Devereaux and his partner feel they have the right guy, but they just can't make the evidence fit the crime. What they need to close the deal, unfortunately, is another body. This entry in the fast-paced series doesn't do much to flesh out Devereaux as a character, but it will please suspense fans looking for a quick, high-stakes read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)