25 TO LIFE

A Los Angeles–based private investigator delves into a murder with ties to a wrongfully convicted man in Lansing’s detective novel.

Retired New York Police Department inspector Jack Bertolino is taking some downtime from his PI work, but he readily agrees to do a favor for the mayor, Henry Waltham (though it’s really for the mayor’s attorney friend, Keith Millhouse). Millhouse doesn’t believe, as the cops do, that his daughter, Gloria, a law student, died in a single-car accident; he suspects foul play (“Someone smashed in Gloria’s car window to steal her briefcase, and an hour later this young woman does a swan dive off a cliff-side road?”). Gloria had been attempting to prove the innocence of Carl Forbes, convicted of murder 23 years earlier. She likely rattled a few people (including a high-ranking officer, Commander Terry Brannigan, now in the running for the position of LAPD police chief), as the police allegedly beat and coerced a false confession out of Carl. Jack questions witnesses from Carl’s case as well as individuals close to the potentially corrupt cops. Some refuse to talk, and others turn up dead. The shamus, certain that someone is killing to cover their tracks, scours for evidence to unmask a killer (or killers) before they take out all those involved. The author packs this latest installment in the Jack Bertolino series with new and returning characters. Gloria’s mysterious death is the catalyst, but it’s this vibrant cast that truly propels the tense narrative. The author’s incisive writing sets Jack on the investigation right away, and succinct chapters breeze by as he compiles a suspect list and looks into a host of crimes. Even as the culprits become more apparent, Jack must still prove they’re guilty. It all leads to a superb ending and the unmistakable sense that this series is nowhere close to slowing down.

Razor-sharp characters propel a taut, suspenseful thriller.