NEVER COME BACK

A pair of very unequal domestic cases await Oregon forensic investigator Nora McTavish.

Gayle and Joel Pearson may have intellectual disabilities, but they’ve made a great home for Ivy, their 3-year-old daughter—until Gayle’s grandmother, Arlene Jones, snatches Ivy away and demands custody of her, leading the Pearsons to plead with Nora, of Sanctuary Family Advocacy, to help them win her back. While she’s waiting for the wheels of justice to turn, Nora gets an unofficial case whose stakes are much higher. Prof. Neil Grayson, the husband of her childhood friend Tess Hannover, was first arrested for killing his student Allie Prentiss, then released because a review of the evidence at the murder scene suggested that it may have been tainted. Now that Tess has filed for divorce—assuming, along with everyone else, that her husband is guilty—Neil is suing for joint custody of Kendra, their 9-year-old, whom Tess is intent on keeping away from him. Nora, whose abusive father turned into a mass shooter, has a heartbreaking interview with Kendra, who asks her: “Do you think my dad did something bad because yours did?” The case is complicated even further by two discoveries: Devon Wilson, the police detective who was suspended on suspicion of tampering with the evidence, is found shot to death, and he turns out to have been Tess’ lover. One of these cases looks a lot more interesting than the other, and that’s pretty much how they work out.

A strong leading plot carries an affecting half-plot across the finish line.