Echoes of Infamy

Steinberg probes the painful legacy of America’s treatment of its Japanese citizens during WWII in her solid third historical mystery featuring the now married investigative team of Evelyn Bishop and Nick Gallagher (after An Unquiet Peace). In 1949, Evelyn is helming her father’s company, Bishop Aeronautics, following his exposure as a traitor during the war. After she delivers a speech at the groundbreaking ceremony for the firm’s new California factory, Evelyn is accosted by an angry soldier in uniform. Capt. Billy Takemura declares that the land Evelyn is building on was stolen from his family: the Takemuras ran a restaurant there before they were forcibly interned in 1942. Billy’s allegations—and the implication that the land might have been purchased on fraudulent terms—disconcert Evelyn, and the situation takes a sinister turn when a construction worker preparing the factory’s foundation unearths a corpse with its head bashed in. Evelyn and Nick decide to investigate, challenging the official conclusion that the victim died in a robbery gone wrong. Steinberg smoothly integrates real history into a fair-play whodunit that’s tense and sad in equal measure. Series fans will get just what they came for. Agent: Kathryn Green, Kathryn Green Literary. (May)