THE SOPHOCLES RULE

A crime reporter accidentally revitalizes a long-dormant criminal in LeValley’s fifth novel in a series.

It all starts with a coin—a silver quarter minted in 1961. Tony Harrington, a crime reporter for Orney, Iowa’s Town Crier, comes across it while embedded with a cop friend on a meth-lab stakeout. Tony realizes he’s seen a couple of these coins lately—more than he’d expect, since they’ve long been out of circulation. Tony smells a story, and his investigation leads him to a 60-year-old cold case involving a bank president killed during a robbery. The things that were stolen on that fateful day decades ago have been showing up all over town, and it’s not just quarters; for instance, Tony finds out a teenager bought a comic book for $1,700 in silver certificates. Tony and the cops go looking for the teen, Travis Finley, but as soon as he realizes the authorities are after him, he disappears. Not long afterward, a new murder occurs that appears to be connected to that bank job from long ago. Tony’s investigation turns out to be a much bigger deal than he bargained for, particularly when he finds himself on the business end of a gun—all because of a shiny quarter. The case at the center of this novel is a fun ride, beginning innocently and building slowly to an unexpected conclusion. LeValley’s prose has an earnestness to it that sometimes comes across as callow, as when he describes a movie-star friend of Tony’s: “She was talented, funny, and well-read, with college degrees in both theater and history. She also was blonde and beautiful, making her a favorite of movie directors and fans, as well as the paparazzi.” Tony isn’t the most electrifying crime solver, but this outing is right in his wheelhouse: slightly goofy, slightly bloody, and very Midwestern. It’s perhaps the strongest installment of LeValley’s series so far.

A well-plotted mystery involving old coins and older grudges.