WESTPORT

4 stars out of 5

This, the second in the former FBI director's series featuring U.S. Attorney Nora Carleton, takes her from her high-stakes, high-pressure New York job to posher-than-posh Long Island Sound, where she's been named lead counsel at Saugatuck Associates, the world's largest hedge fund. Joining her is her young daughter, Sophie. The hedge fund leaders are a quirky bunch, but they seem to like and appreciate Nora - especially one friend, Helen Carpenter, who recruited her - so all's right with the world.

Until it isn't. One not-so-fine day, a fisherman finds a dead body in a canoe, and it's Helen. Of course, Nora is devastated; but when evidence puts Nora in the role of prime suspect, she - together with her New York friend and investigator, Benny Dugan - realize that someone is out to get Nora as well by framing her for Helen's murder.

Nora's work with Helen included sleuthing in hopes of determining who, if anyone, inside the company has been using top-secret company information to make lucrative trades on his or her own, thus undercutting the company's profits. Beyond that, though, there apparently was more - much more - to Helen than met Nora's eye. In fact, she'd been collecting "dirt" on all the firm's top brass - giving more than one person at the firm good reason to want her dead and gone.

The investigation offers plenty of action that ensured my reluctance to put the book down; that said, it was fairly easy to make an educated (and ultimately accurate) guess early on as to the culprit's identity. I was also a little annoyed at Nora's actions near the end - a bit uncharacteristic in my mind - but overall it was a well-crafted adventure I thoroughly enjoyed. I certainly look forward to seeing more of Nora, Benny and (hopefully) a couple of other intriguing characters. Meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review this one. Well done!

Westport by James Comey (Mysterious Press, May 2024); 351 pp.