Who Lies in Wait — Brenda Chapman

04/14/2025The fourth installment in Chapman's Hunter and Tate Mystery series, after Fatal Harvest, opens with the gruesome discovery of the body of a young unidentified woman, assigned to Detective Liam Hunter and his partner, Julie Quade. As they begin their investigation, true crime podcaster Ella Tate waits in vain for her latest informant, who’s promised her a juicy story of shady business dealings and a slew of victims. Meanwhile, the well-to-do Grady family is prepping for the marriage of their elderly father, Peter, to the much younger Marnie, who moved in just weeks ago after a whirlwind courtship. But when Marnie goes missing—and the cops show up on the Gradys' doorstep—Peter learns that Marnie is the unfortunate victim in Detective Hunter’s latest case.Faithful series fans will welcome back the large cast of characters who populate this story, as well as several intriguing new faces, including Nicola—a teenage sex trafficking victim who bravely escapes her captors and is on the run—and the enigmatic Grady family, whose patriarch appears oddly unaware of his fiancée’s somewhat dubious past. Hunter and Quade have an easy repartee, and Ella’s sharp intuition aids in their investigation, though her relationship with Hunter teeters on something more in this installment, adding sparks to their dynamic without sacrificing narrative integrity. Adding to the mix is a scandal brewing within Hunter’s department—one with dark ties to his investigation—that implicates the community at large. Chapman’s latest is a believable mystery that readers can sink their teeth into, filled with crime, secrets, and just the right amount of violence. Countless potential suspects drive the plot, and Chapman skillfully threads the different storylines together while avoiding stereotyped, one-dimensional figures; instead, the main players are a little messy but mostly lovable, hopelessly flawed and tremendously brave. These idiosyncrasies will entice readers to return for the next installment in the series. Takeaway: Satisfying mystery supported by well-polished characters.Comparable Titles: Carol Cole’s DI Callum MacLean mysteries; David Housewright’s Twin Cities P.I. Mac McKenzie series. Production grades Cover: A- Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: A Marketing copy: A