In Agee’s debut mystery, one of New York University’s “best and brightest” risks his future to complete his late father’s investigation into a scandalous “family matter.”

Much to the disapproval of his politician mother and the displeasure of the head of the Stern School of Business, top third-year student Benjamin Timmons cannot be dissuaded from declining a plum Wall Street position to go to the Arkansas small town where his uncle was “killed by a prominent, wealthy woman.” His father had investigated the matter, an obsession that possibly cost him his marriage and, Benjamin begins to suspect, his life. His death, over 18 months prior, was ruled a car accident. Readers know better; the novel begins with “the car’s somersault down the steep terrain” at the hands of a killer who is forced out of retirement by a woman “who knew too much about his history, wouldn’t allow him to avoid her demands, and forced him to agree.” Learning the killer’s and the woman’s identities drive this mystery that will immerse the younger Timmons into a classic noir plot of small-town secrets; a moneyed and very well-connected family, among whose members is a former president of the United States; and a “full-blown conspiracy.” Agee’s series launch grabs from the get-go. Timmons is an unconventional protagonist for such sordid goings-on. He is young, not cynical nor a smartass, not gripped by lust for a femme fatale or in thrall to drink. He is driven to complete what his father started and gain closure to a very cold case. This does not sit well with some in the town. Vague warnings (“be careful”) become threats (“You’re going to get hurt in this”) made by those who Timmons has little doubt can make good on them. To his credit, Agee’s reveals carry genuine surprise that encourages rereads to discover how clues might have been missed.

A clever, stylish mystery that continually surprises.