JERICHO CAY

The South Carolina lowlands are a little lower than usual in p.i. Bay Tanner’s newest case.

Ever since a hurricane hit the Palmetto State, Bay Tanner has been busy overseeing the restoration of her Hilton Head dwelling along with her family home that houses her half sister Julia (Canaan's Gate, 2010, etc.), her caregiver Elizabeth Shelly and Bay's beloved housekeeper Lavinia. When Bay is approached by Winston Wolfe, a wealthy and successful true-crime writer, she and her partner Erik, along with Bay’s husband Red, a former police officer, are initially happy to take up the unusual case at a pay rate far above their usual charges. Wolfe claims to need research for the book he’s writing on the unsolved disappearance of Morgan Tyler Bell. The wealthy recluse’s assistant Terry Gerard went missing at the same time, leaving only the dead body of the housekeeper to be found at his Jericho Cay retreat. According to Wolfe, Bell’s distant cousin wants to have him declared legally dead. Wolfe produces a copy of a driver’s license in the name of Gerard but claims the pictured man is Bell. Small wonder that Bay, Red and Erik become more uneasy as their investigation continues. Their client goes missing; Bay is threatened by Gerard; and Bell’s island home is torched. Bay has problems of her own when her mentally challenged half sister’s caregiver dies in a fall, but she is too involved to give up on Wolfe’s convoluted and ever more dangerous case.

Wall’s tense mysteries and Bay’s complicated love life will doubtless keep her fans coming back for more.