As Brodie Farrell (Flawed; Closer Still) travels to find a cure for her son's cancer, friend Daniel Hood is left in charge of her detective business. He is hired to find a necklace stolen by the man who ran down a young couple, killing the man and crippling the woman. VERDICT This is a heartbreaker as only Bannister can write. The anguish of motherhood is underscored in her depiction of one parent watching her child slowly die while another is living with the knowledge of the devastation caused by a son's wanton actions. Bannister also skillfully begins the loosening of the bonds that have tied Daniel to Brodie for so long. Bannister just gets better with each book.

British author Bannister opens her well-constructed ninth Brodie Farrell mystery (after 2008's Closer Still) on a somber note with a coldhearted driver running down a young couple outside a South Downs restaurant. Bobby Carson kills Tom Sanger and seriously injures Jane Moss, his fiance, to whom Tom had just given an exquisite black star sapphire necklace, which Bobby steals. Bobby is caught and eventually punished, but not before he sells the necklace. Bobby's mother hires Brodie, owner of Looking for Something? (an agency that specializes in finding lost objects), to locate the necklace and return it to Jane. Daniel Hood, Jane's assistant and close friend, and Det. Supt. Jack Deacon, the father of Brodie's sick child, Jonathan, provide emotional backup for Brodie, who seeks a cure for Jonathan's brain tumor. Bannister movingly reflects upon the lies sometimes told for love as Brodie makes a difficult choice in the surprising resolution. (Apr.)