Graveyard Bay

July 29, 2019
At the outset of Kies’s unimpressive third Geneva Chase mystery (after 2018’s Darkness Lane), Chase’s position as an editor at the Sheffield Post, an independent Connecticut newspaper, is in jeopardy as a result of its impending sale to a corporate conglomerate. As soon as the new owner takes over, Chase is demoted to the crime beat under the supervision of her less-than-congenial replacement. Meanwhile, the bodies of a state judge and a private investigator are found in a local marina, chained to the prongs of a forklift. The murders were caught on a security camera, and the leader of the group of men who brought the victims to the marina resembles a vicious Russian thug Chase has encountered before. The authorities, including Chase’s ex-husband, Dep. Chief Mike Dillon, focus on Merlin Finn, a white supremacist the judge sent to prison, from which Finn broke out two weeks earlier. The plot follows predictable pathways, including a scene featuring a captive and near-naked Chase at the mercy of a sex-crazed sadist. Hopefully, Kies will do better next time. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron & Assoc.

September 15, 2019
Groward Bay is the real name of the Connecticut marina that's the scene of the grisly murder that opens this book; its Revolutionary War nickname, Graveyard Bay, however, is consequently resurrected by the newspaper where Geneva Chase works. She's expected to cover the case while struggling against her own alcoholism and worrying about newsroom cutbacks by a greedy new owner. But Geneva finds the spark she thought she'd lost years before when the case gets twistier, bringing in elements of organized crime, torture, and sleazy prescription-drug deals. This novel is full of grit, from Geneva's clawing her way to a better life for herself and for a young woman she has adopted to the less-admirable characters who sometimes display flashes of courage amid their tawdry goings-on. Readers who enjoy mysteries that dive into criminal underworlds are Kies' ideal audience; those who appreciate a down-but-never-out female lead should also be led to the tenacious Geneva Chase.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)