CAUSE OF DEATH

A killer’s release from prison complicates life for retired actress Rina Martin (The Power of One, 2009, etc.) on the eve of her return to television.

Everyone knows that once out of jail, convicted hit man Stan Holden will inevitably make his way back to Peverill Lodge. Frantham’s DI Sebastian MacGregor actually looks forward to Stan’s return, knowing that Rina and her brood of quirky lodgers offer his greatest chance of rehabilitation. Mac’s counterpart in Exeter, DI Dave Kendall, is more skeptical. His stint on the organized crime squad tells him that where Holden goes, baddies like Haines and Vashinsky are sure to follow. And sure enough, Santos and Mason, two of Haines’ thugs, beat Stan senseless the minute he arrives in town. But their goal isn’t to kill Stan. It’s to recruit him to take out an even deadlier threat: ex-Vashinsky associate Karen Parker, who’s in town briefly to set up a trust for her teenage brother, George, before she drops out of sight for good. Since dealing with the squabbling mobsters is a full-time job for Mac and his sergeant, Frank Baker, they leave the task of investigating the appearance of a modern-day bone at an archaeological dig in the hands of PC Andy Nevins, who just finished his probationary year. Will Andy discover the origins of the mysterious femur before full-scale mob warfare disrupts the quiet seaside village—and before Rina leaves for London to start filming the revival of Lydia Marchant Investigates?

A promisingly tangled skein of mysteries unravels abruptly in MacGregor’s sixth case.