Phantom Prey, by John Sandford

 Lucas Davenport, the former Minneapolis cop now working for the state on sensitive police cases, is asked by his wife, Weather, to look into the disappearance of Frances Austin, missing for several months. Frances is the twentysomething daughter of her friend, Alyssa Austin, a wealthy health club owner and widow.  Traces of Frances’s blood have been found at the Austin mansion and it appears Frances might have been murdered there but her body hasn’t been found.  The case seems to be going nowhere fast and the local cops have put it on the back burner.  Lucas suspects Frances is dead but he agrees to do some checking to keep Weather happy. At first he is just going through the motions but then two people with ties to Frances are murdered in quick succession—and suddenly the case is more interesting and important.  It looks like young people Frances ran with are being killed one by one—but why?  And, is Frances dead or alive?  As always, a Lucas Davenport mystery is interesting, suspenseful, and exciting--and this one has an unexpected twist.  Nicely done.   

Moscow Rules, by Daniel Silva

 Gabriel Allon, the sometime art restorer and sometime Israeli secret agent, is on a well-deserved extended honeymoon in Italy with his new wife, Chiara. They are at a borrowed villa in the countryside and Gabriel is restoring a Vatican masterpiece.  For the first time in a long while, life is idyllic for Gabriel—but then the world intrudes.  Ivan Kharkov, a brutal, former KGB agent who is now an extremely wealthy and very powerful arms dealer, is in the process of brokering a huge deal to sell highly sophisticated weapons to terrorists. In order to keep the deal secret, he has already had several people murdered.  One person with a chance to get the details of the deal is his wife, Elena, who is coming to the realization that she is married to a monster. Ivan keeps a tight leash on her and her two young children no matter where they are at.  Being almost constantly watched by bodyguards, is there any way she can be recruited to steal the plans and escape her husband?  Elena is an art lover with a passion for the paintings of Mary Cassatt—and that will be the jumping off point of an elaborate plan that will use Gabriel’s skills as both an artist and a secret agent.  Hopscotching around the globe with exotic locales, good guys who are very good, and bad guys who are very bad, this was a terrifically entertaining addition to this wonderful series. 

Where Are You Now?, by Mary Higgins Clark

 Ten years ago Mack MacKenzie, a college senior just about to graduate from Columbia University, disappeared.  He has never been seen again but every year, on Mother’s Day, he calls home and leaves a brief message that he is ok.  His mother, a widow, has put her life on hold but she is finally ready to give up on Mack and move on.  Not so Mack’s sister, Carolyn, who was just sixteen when he disappeared.  Now ten years older and a law school graduate, she has decided to make one last try to track down Mack and discover what would have caused him to leave so abruptly and disappear—just when his life was filled with such promise.  As Carolyn retraces the original investigation with fresh eyes, she begins to wonder if her brother was involved in the abductions of several women that occurred in the neighborhood where he lived.  And, with several recent abductions of young women, could he be guilty of those crimes, too?  I didn’t find this novel to be as entertaining as some of Ms. Clark’s earlier ones but it did keep me guessing about what happened to Mack.

Legally Dead, by Edna Buchanan

 Ms. Buchanan is one of my favorite authors and I have enjoyed her novels that featured Britt Montero, the Miami crime reporter, and her recent Cold Case Squad series. Now, she has a new book out with a different cast of characters.  U. S. Marshall Michael Venturi, a former Marine, has been working with the Witness Protection Service but he has become increasingly frustrated with his job and the assignments he is ordered to do. When one of his witnesses that he has placed murders two young girls, Michael decides to quit and move to Florida.  Michael can afford to ditch his job because he has been paid a nineteen million dollar settlement in the wrongful death of his pregnant wife.  At first planning to just do some fishing while he takes stock of his life, Michael stumbles into a second career helping troubled but worthy people who need to escape their current lives.  With the help of a former Marine friend, Danny Trado, Michael stages their fake deaths and sets up new identities, allowing them to start anew.  Things are going well—until someone starts hunting down and killing the people he has placed.  This novel has an exciting start and then sort of loses its suspense for awhile but the finish is worth the wait. 

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