07/20/2020
Johnson’s winning sequel to 2019’s Molten Mud Murder finds Alexa Glock, formerly of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, still in New Zealand, where she has found a job with the Forensic Service Center in Auckland. Her specialty in forensic odontology makes her the perfect person to identify the remains of a man discovered on remote Stewart Island, whose main tourist draws are its native birds and shark cage diving operations. Alexa confirms that the body is that of Robert King, who disappeared while deer hunting in Rakiura National Park 10 months earlier. There’s a bullet hole his skull. Then a dead man washes up on the beach, a third of his body torn away by sharks. He, too, was shot. The flora and fauna of rural New Zealand turn out to be relevant to the murder investigation. At the exciting climax, Alexa uses her wits, not a gun or martial arts skills, to take out the bad guy. Hopefully, this refreshingly normal heroine will be back soon. Agent: Natalie Lakosil, Bradford Literary. (Sept.)
