BOMBSHELL

FBI agents tackle several high-profile cases in and around the Beltway.

On his way to Washington to join fellow agents Dillon Savich and his wife, Lacey Sherlock, Griffin Hammersmith plans to stop off and visit his sister Delsey, a student at the prestigious Stanislaus School of Music. But he has to go to the hospital to find Delsey, who was discovered in her apartment unconscious and covered in blood. Meanwhile, Savich and Sherlock are called in when a body turns up at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial with injuries consistent with a fall from a great height. Before the police even arrive, the body is identified by a picture posted online as the grandson of the much-reviled former chairman of the Federal Reserve. Although the consensus is that the bright young university student was killed in revenge for his grandfather’s failed policies, Savich and Lacey do not rule out a more personal motive, especially when the victim’s two lifelong friends end up equally dead. Back in Virginia, Delsey recalls being attacked by at least one Latino man, and Hammersmith’s uncanny ability to read people reveals the fact that Delsey’s best friend is an undercover drug agent working on a case involving a visiting professor and a major drug cartel. When Delsey is targeted by the gang, Hammersmith scrambles to break the case before her obituary follows the others.

The latest addition to Coulter’s FBI series (Whiplash, 2010, etc.) uses a run-of-the-mill mystery to bring together some of her fans’ favorite characters.