Bone rattle

At the start of bestseller Cameron's strong third crime novel featuring Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Arliss Cutter (after 2020's Stone Cross), archaeologist Isaac Merculief, who's overseeing the construction of a road near Juneau, Alaska, calls a halt when the work exposes a skeleton and a bone rattle, a highly valuable artifact that may have belonged to a shaman. Merculief has orders to protect any unearthed human remains or burial sites. Others oppose Merculief's decision, and ensure that the archaeologist permanently disappears. Eventually, the circumstances of Merculief's disappearance come to Cutter's attention, but the lawman has a lot of other things on his plate, including the mystery of a woman's torso that washed ashore near Anchorage, the trial of two vicious drug traffickers, and the assassination of a federal official. Cameron draws on his own service as a deputy federal marshal in Alaska and his expertise in tracking down people, and he does a good job balancing the multiple plotlines as well as characterization and action. Owen Laukkanen fans will be pleased. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (Apr.)

A deputy U.S. marshal stationed in Alaska is challenged by a handful of serious cases and a complicated home life. When a big archaeological dig grinds to an abrupt halt at the discovery of a rattle that could be worth half a million dollars, the handful of men on hand debate their next move, wary of upsetting their boss, Harold Grimsson, or his dangerous right-hand man, Dollarhyde. Grimsson, who owns the Valkyrie Mine Holdings, is on his private island south of Juneau being warned by two corrupt state senators that he's in danger of being connected to the criminal Hernandez brothers, currently on trial for financial fraud. Little do the senators know that Grimsson murdered his first wife or that Dollarhyde killed the dig site employee who wanted to halt the operation. While all this is unfolding, Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshals Arliss Cutter and Lola Teariki are hauling in some grittier perps. Their takedown of drug dealer Jarome Pringle and his stripper girlfriend blossoms into a tense chase and a major bust with several more arrests. Other cops deal with a body on a frigid gravel beach. Cutter's home life is going through some growing pains. After four marriages, he's now helping his late brother's widow, Mim, raise snarky twin teenagers and harboring sad memories from his past. Dollarhyde's thirst for violence seems unquenchable. Cameron's colorful procedural has epic scope; each change of setting seems to bring a new set of characters and a new subplot with its own wrinkles. Plot threads sprawl and tangle with the abandon of a soap opera. Until the tale settles down to focus on premier villain Grimsson, keeping it all straight is a challenge. Cameron's energetic potboiler could draw readers in--or exhaust them. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.