MYSTERY

Bitter Crossing: A Peyton Cote Novel

by D.A. Keeley
Midnight Ink. Aug. 2014. 408p. ISBN 9780738740683. pap. $14.99. M
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U.S. border guard Peyton Cote expected to find illegal drugs on her watch, not an abandoned baby. From that point on, operations in this remote port-of-entry county in northern Maine get even more intense. Feeling burned by her confidential informant's false tip, Peyton is further dismayed when he is found dead. Then, a fellow border agent is shot and critically wounded. Puzzlingly, Peyton's own brother-in-law appears to be a part of some scheme—perhaps the very one that is overwhelming the local authorities. Peyton is no rookie—she is an excellent agent who was quite successful when working in Texas—and so much violence in her hometown strikes her as odd. When she finally fits all the pieces together, it's almost too late.
VERDICT This debut procedural includes a dizzying number of side stories, making for a high-drama read from the get-go. Keeley's torrid pace seems improbably laden with dysfunctional characters, but the pages just fly by. A solid bet for Nevada Barr and Tricia Fields fans. Keeley is a pseudonym for mystery writer John Corrigan.
Reviewed by Teresa L. Jacobsen , Jul 01, 2014
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