Now Comes Death

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Everything about Roby's second Harry Brock mystery is so appealing that choosing the best element is truly daunting. One could make a convincing argument for Harry himself: a struggling private investigator, he is an imperfect yet deeply honorable man who wants a family but doesn't quite know how to keep one. Or perhaps we might opt for the book's setting: a densely thicketed, teeming-with-life tropical hammock of land off the southwest Florida coast. Or maybe we should select Harry's gentle and wise beekeeping neighbor, Tucker LaBeau, who often consults with his hound, Sanchez, and his mule, Oh-Brother. Characters and setting are superlative, to be sure, but Roby is no slouch when it comes to plotting, either, juggling an involving mystery about the murder of drifter Truly Brown with subplots concerning a farmer whose cattle have vanished and a woman who wants Harry to investigate her business associate. Meanwhile, Harry's pregnant wife, Katherine, wants him to quit the private-eye business and choose a less-dangerous job. An outstanding detective novel, even better than the series' fine debut, Death in a Hammock (2003). Jenny McLarin
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