Wildwood

Pease impresses with her gritty second mystery featuring mother-son law-enforcement duo Marge and Eli North (after Northwoods). Marge, who’s the sheriff of Sherman County, Wis., calls in Eli, her sole deputy, after a woman named Ronnie asks for the police’s help finding her friend Trinity Campanella. When Ronnie stopped by Trinity’s trailer to borrow her car, she found it empty, the bedroom splattered with enough blood to signal that Trinity may have been murdered. The Norths search the trailer, finding Trinity’s concealed drug kit and the business card of a healthcare CEO inside one of her bras. The investigation takes a turn when the feds inform the Norths that Trinity was an informant for the FBI and the DEA in their case against attorney Charles Dawson, the owner of several rehab facilities, who’s involved in a plot to distribute fake medication laced with synthetic opioids. Trinity was tasked with developing a romantic relationship with Dawson to pump him for information, but the more the Norths dig, the less clear everyone’s loyalties become. As in the previous novel, Pease elevates her plotting with rich atmosphere and well-shaded characters. William Kent Krueger fans will want to check this out. Agent: Amanda Jain, BookEnds Literary. (Jan.)