The Story That Wouldn’t Die

Intrepid TV reporter Jolene Garcia investigates a deadly case of municipal corruption in Estes’s vibrant sequel to Off the Air. Jolene has long found her fluffy beat in Phoenix, Ariz., stifling. She yearns to cover serious news instead of investigating whether the cupcakes at local bakeries are really, as they claim to be, gluten-free. When community activist Carlos Rios offers to meet with Jolene about a controversial zoning proposal, she sees it as an opportunity to prove her chops. Shortly after they meet and Carlos hints at possible corruption in city hall, he dies in a suspicious car accident, leading Jolene to suspect he was murdered. Then a beloved community figure, whom Carlos implicated in the city hall plot, turns up dead, and Jolene again tries her hand as a gumshoe. As in the previous book, Estes’s experience as a broadcast journalist lends authenticity to the proceedings, but this time, she doesn’t get too bogged down in the details, and successfully crafts a brain-teasing, fair-play puzzle full of plausible suspects and interconnected treachery. After a shaky first outing, this suggests that Jolene might have what it takes to sustain a series. (Aug.)