Hard rain

The violent effects and muddy waters of a flood that devastates Garnett, Tex., provide a richly suggestive backdrop for Allen's taut sequel to 2022's Pay Dirt Road, a Hillerman Prize winner. One flood survivor, Bethany Richter, asks apprentice PI Annie McIntyre, an old friend, to identity a stranger who briefly helped Bethany to safety. It's a rather thin premise for a case, but Annie leaps at the chance to prove herself. Annie's search leads her to uncover town secrets and scandals, including adultery, drug dealing, unethical real estate transactions, theft, and brutality. When someone is fatally shot, she has to wonder whether the killer could be the stranger she's seeking. Meanwhile, in an unevenly developed subplot, Annie attempts to sustain a romance with her boyfriend. Keep a pencil handy for making notes on the cast, for there are nearly 20 in an intricately connected social web. Written with some pitch-perfect imagery and an acute awareness of Annie's longing to make good in her hometown, this intense novel holds its secrets until the final harrowing pages. Regional mystery fans will hope to soon return to Garnett. Agent: Sharon Pelletier, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Apr.)

Garnett, TX, had been in a drought, so when 12 inches of rain come down in just hours, and the Geronimo River crests at a record 40 feet, the county floods, leaving damaged homes and dead people behind. Minister's wife Bethany Richter is caught in the flood but rescued by a man who is then swept away himself. She hires Annie McIntyre of McIntyre Investigations to find her unidentified rescuer, who reminded her of pictures of Christ. Annie's been training to be a PI for just six months, and she's still restless after returning to her hometown post-college. But her first solo assignment leaves her unsettled. While searching for Bethany's savior, she finds a body and truck submerged in the water. Her investigation soon leads her to drug dealers, problems within a local church and within her own family, and threats on her life. VERDICT The slow-paced, atmospheric sequel to the Tony Hillerman Award-winning Pay Dirt Road will appeal to fans of Marcie R. Rendon's Sinister Graves, in which another young female PI searches for answers after a flood.--Lesa Holstine