Invasion of Privacy: A John Cuddy Mystery (Terrific Series , No 11)

Healy's creation, the reflective Boston-based private investigator John Cuddy, first caught our attention by doing homey, believable things like visiting his wife's grave and asking her advice. Eleven books into the series, Healy still manages to mix the homey touches with moments of high drama, keeping the balance perfect. When a woman banker hires Cuddy to check on her new lover's nonexistent past, he soon realizes the man is a protected government witness. Other writers would have left it there, but Healy builds an additional scaffold as intriguing as it is dangerous for everyone concerned. (Past Cuddy books: Act of God, Blunt Darts, Rescue, Right to Die, Shallow Graves, Foursome, So Like Sleep, Swan Dive, Yesterday's News).