Baldacci (The 6:20 Man) is at his best in this standalone thriller about an ex-cop and single mother who's drawn into a murder investigation. Mickey Gibson has found some stability after her husband divorced her while she was pregnant with their second child, having moved to Williamsburg, Va., to be near family and joined investigative firm ProEye. Her new normal is rocked, though, when she's called by a woman named Arlene Robinson, who says she's working with Mickey's boss and assigns her to inventory the contents of a recently foreclosed mansion. When Mickey arrives at the house, she discovers the decomposing corpse of an elderly man and immediately becomes a person of interest in his death--especially after police learn that ProEye has never heard of anyone named Arlene Robinson. As Mickey tries desperately to clear her name, she's drawn further into a shadowy plot orchestrated by the woman calling herself Arlene. Baldacci keeps the twists coming fast and furious in this tense page-turner, never losing credibility even as it takes bigger and bigger swings. Readers will fall in love with Mickey and hold their breath for her through to the very end. Agent: Aaron Priest, Aaron M. Priest Literary. (Apr.)

Mickey Gibson, formerly a police detective, now works for ProEye, a private company that looks for the financial assets squirreled away by rich folks who cheat on their taxes. When she gets a call from another ProEye investigator, asking her to conduct an inventory of the home of an arms dealer who skipped town, she thinks nothing of it--until she's on the property, where she finds a murdered man. Soon Mickey discovers the victim wasn't an arms dealer, ProEye has no record of anyone asking Mickey to inventory the property, and she's the number one suspect in a homicide. She's been set up, but by whom and why? Baldacci's latest stand-alone is a bit clunkier than some of his recent efforts (2022's The 6:20 Man, for example); in particular some of the supporting characters feel insubstantial, as though the author hadn't gotten around to fleshing them out. On the other hand, the setup is definitely intriguing, and the main characters, especially the villain, hold our interest. Baldacci's readers will find plenty to enjoy here, even if it doesn't represent his very best work.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Baldacci doesn't need his A game to attract his devoted and enormous fan base.