Still finishing up Murder at Mercy Creek, KD Thorne book 2. KD and Blunt have been sent to Mercy Creek, Iowa, to investigate the murder of an undercover FBI agent who was working on a corruption case that spans the Interstate 35 corridor.

Drug running, gun smuggling, and police corruption. A criminal cartel jealous of its turf. A local sheriff whose motives are hard to read. What could possibly go wrong?

Meanwhile, two books of interest—

Read The Erasers by Alain Robbe-Grillet (English translation from French). This was an award-winning French novel written in 1952. It concerns a supposed murder being investigated by a special agent who doesn’t know that the victim survived the attempt and is in hiding. The writing is stylized, following the point of view of most of the characters at some point in the text. It’s a sort of “locked box,” where all the characters know bits of what happened, and the special agent has to try to piece together the truth. Has a surprising ending.

This is a cerebral book that requires a lot of focus because you have to keep track of and separate out the various points of view, but if you like to see how far the crime fiction form can be stretched, you might enjoy it.

Also read Song of the Lion (A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel). This is book 21 in the series, and the third written by Anne Hillerman, who took over the series from her father. I’ve read several of the earlier ones written by Tony Hillerman, but this is the first one of hers I’ve read.

As in all of these books, there’s lots of local color about Navajo Country (in the southwest US) and Native American ways and rituals. And the lead characters are as compelling as ever. This outing concerns a bombing that seems to be connected to a plan to build a controversial Grand Canyon resort, which environmentalists and various stakeholders oppose. Plenty of complications and a plot that’s hard to figure out until the very end. A fun read.

Finally, The Murder Run: The Travelers Book 6 will be discounted to $0.99 at the end of January. So if you haven’t read it yet, here’s your chance. I’ll send out a reminder when the exact days are set.

And The Gone Sister (Lee Callaway Book 2) by Thomas Fincham is free today. I’m picking up a copy.

https://www.amazon.com/Private-Investigator-Mystery-Suspense-Callaway-ebook/dp/B0772WPK9Y

All for now. Happy reading!