Returning to the setting of Grisham's Camino Island (2017), Bruce Cable is still running his bookstore, but, frankly, he's worried: a hurricane is bearing down on the island, promising to bring with it widespread destruction. Which it does, but it also brings something else: murder. In the middle of the worst storm to hit the island in years, a local writer, Nelson Kerr, is killed. The police have a lot on their plate in the aftermath of the storm, and they seem content to put this particular problem on the back burner, so Bruce decides to solve the mystery himself. The problem is, he has few clues and even fewer potential suspects. Camino Island was a delightful, rather laid-back small-town mystery involving writers and their craft. Here the focus remains the same--Bruce soon learns that Kerr's murder probably had something to do with the writer's work in progress, possibly the fact that the new novel's plot may have strong links to real-life wrongdoing. Readers who enjoyed the previous novel's character and island ambience will been equally taken with this one. A fine sequel.

The murder of popular thriller writer Nelson Kerr during a hurricane drives bestseller Grisham's exciting follow-up to 2017's Camino Island. In the hurricane's aftermath, the Camino Island police are too preoccupied to handle the case competently, so Nelson's bookseller friend, Bruce Cable, the endearing though roguish leader of the Florida resort island's literary society, and his pals--ex-con crime writer J. Andrew Cobb and bookstore intern Nick Sutton--obtain permission from Nelson's relatives to investigate. The discovery of Nelson's unpublished final novel, concerning Medicare fraud, conceivably holds the key to his death. Believing the manuscript is fact posing as fiction, Bruce retains the services of a dodgy security firm to infiltrate nursing homes. This effort leads to more murders, a cover-up, and a massive FBI operation to bring the book's villains to justice. Grisham peoples the intriguing, elaborate plot with a winsome ensemble of distinguished authors and booklovers. Readers will hope to return soon to this appealing vacation hot spot. Agent: David Gernert, the Gernert Company. (Apr.)

A tempest is bearing down, and murder most foul is afoot in Grisham's latest whodunit. Call it a metamystery: Grisham, prolific producer of courtroom thrillers, moves the action to a Florida resort island populated by mystery writers. In the wake of a ravaging hurricane, one of them turns up dead--a nice, affable fellow named Nelson Kerr, a former trial lawyer who "ratted out a client, a defense contractor who was illegally selling high-tech military stuff to the Iranians and North Koreans." It's not hard to understand that the client might want Kerr dead. But then, so would others whom Kerr has written about, including money launderers and--well, let's just say other entrepreneurs who wouldn't like their activities to be described in any detail. Enter bookstore owner Bruce Cable, friend, drinking buddy, and sometime editor and adviser of Kerr and other members of Camino Island's literary crowd, including "an ex-con who'd served time in a federal pen for sins that were still vague." Cable is perhaps Grisham's least sympathetic hero; he drinks night and day, sleeps around, and has few apparent scruples. At least he's not a lawyer. Neither is he a cop, though he's quicker on the scene than the island's homicide investigator--"I didn't know we had a homicide guy," Bruce allows, since murder is rare in these parts. That leaves it to him, an intern, a girlfriend, and assorted other players to piece together what happened to the unfortunate Mr. Kerr, who, it must be said, is dispatched in a way nicely in keeping with Floridian lifestyles. Grisham's tale unfolds at a leisurely pace, never breaking into a sweat, and if the bad guys seem a touch too familiar, the rest of the cast make a varied and believable lot, and some might even be fun to ride out a storm with, at least if they're unarmed. A pleasure for Grisham fans and an undemanding addition to the beach bag. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.