Moving Target

Publishers Weekly 11/25/2013 At the start of Jance’s engrossing ninth Ali Reynolds novel (after 2013’s Deadly Stakes), Ali, eager to escape the chaos surrounding her upcoming wedding to B. Simpson, travels from Sedona, Ariz., to England with her 80-something majordomo, Leland Brooks. Sixty years earlier, Leland’s family disowned him, and he left the country in disgrace. Now he and Ali discover there’s more to the story—including a long-unsolved murder. Meanwhile, someone succeeds in severely burning Lance Tucker, a teen hacker B. helped incriminate, at the San Leandro, Tex., juvenile facility where he’s being held. Feeling responsible and seeing himself in Lance, B. investigates who wants the boy dead and why, aided by his colleagues at the cybersecurity firm High Noon and Sister Anselm, an elderly nun with a Taser, who guards Lance’s hospital room. Jance provides enough backstory to orient readers new to the series, and longtime fans should enjoy insights into B.’s and Leland’s pasts. Agent: Alice Volpe, Northwest Literary Agency. (Feb.)