DIG YOUR GRAVE

A longtime unofficial detective and a psychic team up once more to find a killer desperate to make a statement.

It’s not news to find a dead body in a cemetery, but it is when that body has been freshly killed and is purposely showcased in a shallow grave. That's the M.O. of a new killer in the Phoenix area who’s leaving cryptic messages that seem to blame the victim. Even though there’s clearly a lot going on in the killer’s mind, Detective Alex Mills, when he’s assigned to the case, is less interested in the perp’s psychology than in preventing another crime. Both the importance and the difficulty of his work are emphasized when the victim is identified as the very important Davis Klink, the CEO of Illumilife Industries. Not only is Klink’s list of business enemies longer than one man could investigate in a lifetime, but after dealing with Klink’s wife, Alex is almost ready to add her to the list. To help navigate the wide swath of suspects, Alex calls on his frequent collaborator and friend Gus Parker. Gus is a psychic whose intuition could help guide Alex and his partner, Detective Jan Powell, to whomever thought murder was the best gift to give the man who had everything. Now if only Gus could direct his powers and draw on them when he chose. Though he does get a few signals to help guide Alex, Gus isn’t able to get much more than a sense of the killing before the team hears about another body. And in truth Gus is distracted by trying to figure out who’s stalking him and his girlfriend, Billie Welch, a rock-and-roll legend who may have to pay for her fame with her safety.

Though his writing sometimes verges on cliché, Cooper (Desert Remains, 2017) continues to blend solid investigative work, psychological insight, and personal touches to create a broadly appealing series that could capture readers interested in procedurals even if they’re indifferent to psychic woo-woo.