Star Nose — Richard Wolkomir

Cooper North just retired as a prosecutor, but she's determined to protect this child, although he tells her nothing. He trusts no one. He speaks only to Cooper's corgi, because the dog won't reveal his secrets. They murdered his mother. Now they hunt him-he is seven years old.Murder follows murder, as Cooper and her police colleagues hunt the killers, through the streets of this small Vermont town, and out into the countryside.Is the town's new artificial-intelligence laboratory involved? Maybe. And who's the mysterious stranger, who just checked into the hotel-he seems affable, but he's heavily armed.Meanwhile, not even the killers know who's ordering them to murder the boy.Cooper follows their twisting trail, from northern New England to Florida's Gulf coast, to the Bronx, and far beyond.Then, in a snowstorm, in an isolated farmhouse, violence erupts-a firestorm. And, after that....HERE'S A READER REACTION TO THIS MYSTERY-FIVE STARSRecommend to anyone who enjoys a believable mystery.