Copyright The Denver Post
“The Hawk is Dead,” by Peter James (Macmillan) The royal train with Queen Camilla aboard is wrecked. The dutiful queen — her personal secretary, Sir Peregrine Greaves, in tow — leads her entourage to safety. But is she safe? Moments later, a sniper gets off two shots. Sir Peregrine falls dead. England breathes a sigh of relief that the sniper missed the queen. But Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is convinced Sir Peregrine really was the intended victim. And so begins James’ newest Superintendent Grace novel. “The Hawk is Dead” takes Grace inside Buckingham Palace, with its labyrinths of rooms and hallways, lined with pieces from the world’s greatest art collection. Some of those pieces seem to have disappeared, however. As Grace tries to determine if there’s a connection to Sir Peregrine, he also deals with an incompetent London detective who wants to take over the case. There are some touching scenes between DI Grace and their majesties, who are depicted in a shining light. But that’s to be expected. After all, the real Queen Camilla has said Grace is her favorite fictional detective. “The Bone Thief,” by Vanessa Lilie (Berkley) Bureau of Indian Affairs archaeologist Syd Walker is called in when the 350-year-old skeleton of a pregnant woman is discovered on the grounds of an exclusive country club known as the Founders Society. Before Walker can finish excavating, the skeleton is stolen. That leads her into a world of wealthy Americans descended from America’s “first families.” The club is a repository of thousands of early Narragansett bones, pottery and other artifacts, some used in the society’s bizarre rituals. At the same time, a young Native American girl has gone missing, and Walker pledges to find out what happened to her. Walker has her own problems, including a pregnant wife and a Cherokee mother and child she rescued earlier from a deadly situation. “The Bone Thief” is a critical look at the insensitivity of archaeologists and collectors — including major repositories such as Harvard and Yale — which view Indian artifacts as objects, devoid of their relationship to Native culture. It’s also a cry to let tribes themselves decide what to do with the bones and artifacts of their ancestors. “The Snake Handler’s Wife,” by Sue Hinkin (Literary Wanderlust) Author Sue Hinkin’s readers will be delighted with another mystery about photojournalist Lucy Viga. New readers, however, may be confused by the plethora of characters who come and go with little explanation. Viga hires sweet Jaimie to care for 4-year-old Henry, not realizing Jaime’s charming husband is a rapist and snake-handler pastor who is after Lucy’s ranch. The book has problems. Among them: Lucy’s boyfriend and Henry’s father says he’s leaving Lucy for another woman. The breakup takes just two pages and, with barely a thought of grief, Lucy’s eying the local veterinarian. Likewise, when Lucy’s friend Bea discovers the love of her life is really her half-brother, she’s happy to reconnect with a former beau. None of this will matter to Hinkin’s readers, who will just be pleased that there is another in the Lucy Vega series. “The Sister’s Curse,” by Nicola Solvinic (Berkley) In a follow-up to her earlier mystery, “The Hunter’s Daughter,” author Solvinic follows the career of Anna Koray, a police detective, who is the daughter of a serial killer. Koray, whose true identity is known only to her boyfriend, rescues a young boy from drowning. Strange forces seem to pull Koray deep into the water as she struggles to save him. Once rescued, the boy bears odd markings, as if he’s been cut with knives. When a second victim, this one dead, shows the same marks, Koray wonders if something unworldly is at work, much as it was with her father’s killings. The coincidence is enough to make Koray consider quitting her job and moving away. The victims are connected to the Kings of Warsaw, a teenage gang of boys, now grown and respected members of the community. To solve the case, Koray revisits a decades-old unsolved murder. “The Sister’s Curse” is a mystery tinged with the occult. “The Last Death of the Year,” by Sophie Hannah (William Morrow) Old soldiers never die, and neither do old detectives. Under the skillful pen of Hannah, Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot is alive and well and solving not one but three murders on a Greek Island. With the intrepid Inspector Edward Catchpool, Poirot attends a New Year’s Eve celebration in which each participant writes a resolution and places it in a bowl. Guests are expected to guess who wrote it. But nobody claims the slip of paper vowing to murder one of the participants at midnight. Sure enough, the designated man is found stabbed to death. When a second participant is murdered — and a cold case pops up — Poirot is in his element. Catchpool is a few steps behind, partly because a woman staying in the house declares she fell in love with him at first sight and demands he marry her. Catchpool has all he can do to keep her hands off him. At times, it’s hard to keep the suspects straight, but who cares? As long as Poirot can.
