A pair of grisly crimes challenges the detectives of a Long Island police department. 

For Neil Jericho and the other detectives of the East Hampton Police Department, complex cases can spring from ordinary tips. In this seventh installment of a series, Evangeline “Vangie” Clark receives a call from a teenager named Kevin Jenkins. Jenkins says that while riding his bike over a bridge, he saw something suspicious in the water. Jericho and Clark go to the bridge and discover the body of a red Irish setter. The dog is identified as Bridey, whose owner, Miriam Shapiro, lives near the bridge. A veterinarian determines that Bridey was drowned. Jericho believes that the case should be turned over to animal control, but Clark, a canine owner herself, is horrified by the crime and decides to investigate the matter on her own. Meanwhile, Jericho is contacted by the captain of a research boat after voyagers find a human arm in a shark they were measuring. Jericho discovers the arm belongs to Stacy Verducci, who disappeared after meeting a man named Chad Manning. As their investigations progress, Clark is taunted by Jenkins while Jericho learns Chad Manning is an alias. When a second woman named Stacy disappears, the search is on for a serial killer. This latest entry in Marks’ (Tumbling Down, 2018, etc.) series featuring Jericho and his cohorts is a taut, fast-paced mystery that skillfully weaves together the investigations of two seemingly unrelated crimes while developing subplots introduced in previous installments. Although Jericho remains the series’ primary protagonist, Clark becomes an important character in the story as she rises within the department from a 911 dispatcher to detective. Her inquiry into Bridey’s death takes a number of intriguing twists and turns as Jenkins moves from helpful witness to potential suspect. Jericho’s look into Verducci’s murder takes center stage during the second half of the enjoyable novel, and it enables him to interact with characters from previous volumes, including medical examiner Dr. John Alvarez. Jericho’s personal life is the basis for a significant subplot when his longtime girlfriend, Rainbow, must decide whether to leave the area to care for her terminally ill mother.

A briskly paced and engaging murder tale that should satisfy fans of this series.