September 7, 2015
At the start of Preston and Child’s solid 15th thriller featuring FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast (after 2014’s Blue Labyrinth), Pendergast, unusually for him, agrees to accept a private case. Someone broke into the lighthouse where sculptor Percival Lake lives in Exmouth, Mass., and cleared out his wine cellar, except for one case of a very rare vintage. For reasons that are unclear to Pendergast’s ward, Constance Greene, Pendergast agrees to travel from his Manhattan home to Exmouth, where his inquiries reveal that Lake’s wine cellar contained a hidden chamber and human remains. The truth behind the crime may be connected to local legends regarding a witch colony and a demonic figure known as the Grey Reaper. Meanwhile, Pendergast looks into the stabbing murders of a local attorney and a historian researching Exmouth’s past, whose bodies were marked with the so-called Tybane Inscriptions. The genuine scares take a while to come, but when they do, readers will be reminded of the violent horror of Relic, Pendergast’s debut. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME.
February 29, 2016
The 15th fantastic adventure of eccentric, brilliant Special FBI agent Aloysius Pendergast finds him and Constance Greene, his lovely young ward, leaving their Manhattan mansion for Exmouth, Mass., on a case unrelated to the agency—the theft of a wine cellar. This basic bit of sleuthing leads to much more: a corpse in a hidden chamber, additional murders, a colony of witches, and an unstoppable, homicidal creature that is thought to exist only in local lore. Over the years, Auberjonois has developed the perfect voice for Pendergast—seasoned, aristocratic, Southern, and, when dealing with a bully like Exmouth’s police chief, irritatingly arrogant. Auberjonois’s version of Constance, who is having difficulty hiding her desire for her older mentor (and he for her), is acceptable, but if the authors continue to expand her participation in these thrillers, a younger, female co-reader may be advisable. A Grand Central hardcover.