The Heavens May Fall

July 18, 2016
Edgar-finalist Eskens’s gripping third mystery featuring homicide detective Max Rupert (after 2015’s The Guise of Another) pits Max against defense attorney Boady Sanden, a longtime friend, in a criminal case. Boady is defending attorney Ben Pruitt, who’s on trial for the murder of his wife, Jennavieve. Jennavieve was stabbed to death at night in her Minneapolis home while Ben was at a meeting in Chicago. Was there just enough time for Ben to drive home, kill his wife, and get back by morning? A witness saw a red car park in front of the house at midnight—did Ben have access to a red car? Although Max is distracted by new information on the death of his own wife four years earlier, he pulls together the case against Ben at the insistence of prosecutor Frank Dovey, who’s altogether too eager to put it before a grand jury. Eskens keeps the reader guessing as the tale takes several unexpected twists before reaching the satisfying denouement. Agent: Amy Cloughley, Kimberley Cameron Agency.