A Brush With Death : a Penny Brannigan Mystery

Publishers Weekly: Drugs, sex, and murder fuel Peffer's fervid fifth Cape Islands mystery (after 2009's Bangkok Dragons, Cape Cod Tears). When Bird Island harbormaster Corby Church stumbles on human bones on the island, rookie police detective Yemanj? Col?n, based in the mainland town of Slocums Harbor, Mass., winds up on a terrifying journey. Eager to take on a real case, Yemanj? is soon channeling the voice of the victim, an unidentified white female in her 20s who died sometime in the late 1980s while the New Bedford serial killer, responsible for at least 11 murders, was active in the area. As the investigation heats up, so does Yemanj?'s relationship with Corby, a relationship complicated by Corby's coincidental involvement with the victim, eventually identified as Remy La Moreaux, with whom Corby and three other men once sailed to the Bahamas. Kept on a tight rein by police chief Chi Chi Bugatti, Yemanj? proves herself a feisty heroine readers will want to see more of. (Aug.)