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More crimes of every shape and size bedevil the paradise of Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of southern California. Police substation director Sgt. Stilwell, who really doesn’t want you to know his first name, is leading the interception of an aircraft that’s just landed when everything goes sideways, ending Dep. Ilsa Ramirez’s career and Dep. Alton Quigley’s life. After the book opens with such a bang, Stilwell settles into his customary routine, now tinged by grief. He identifies cartel courier Gonzalo Kalas as the man who fled the plane during its brief stint on the ground, then hears that Kalas has eluded police custody. Stilwell finds a keychain in a backpack Kalas insisted wasn’t his, with a key that belonged to Angela Metier, who went missing several years ago. He contacts Det. Renée Ballard, the only paid member of the LAPD’s Cold Case Unit, then sees the case he’d expected to close with the discovery of Angela’s body opening even wider when he and Ballard link Angela’s death to the unsolved disappearances of several other female hikers. Stilwell’s attempts to identify the vandals who chopped down several rows of vintner Oliver Marquez’s grape vines and defaced the island’s famous chimes tower with the bold letters “FSID” quickly lead to suspects whose apprehension presents problems that call for a diplomat rather than a police officer. Throughout, veteran Connelly intertwines the cases in a way that provides a satisfyingly comprehensive sense of Stilwell’s complicated workload, which is much greater than the sum of its parts. And when Stilwell follows one of them up the daisy chain to uncomfortably high-level conspirators, the stage is set for a climactic showdown that’s also a highly effective cliffhanger. Welcome back to Catalina, where every day brings exciting new adventures—especially if you’re in law enforcement. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.