Deeper than the Dead, by Tami Hoag (Dutton; $26.95)

Tami Hoag’s books are one of my few vices. Equal parts mystery and romance, they are long enough to last a whole snowy weekend, infinitely readable, and with plots that don’t require a lot of effort to figure out. So I was thrilled to learn that, after a two-year hiatus, Hoag was back with a new mystery. In Deeper Than the Dead, four 5th-graders stumble upon the body of a dead woman in the woods, her eyes and mouth glued shut and her ear drums ruptured. (A nod to the “no evil” monkeys.) The students’ teacher, Anne Navarre, does what she can to help them through the aftermath of this horrific discovery. She works with the local cops as well as a FBI agent, Vince Leone, who examines the pattern of this and similar murders to make conclusions about the killer. This being 1985, profiling was just starting to be used to help solve crimes, and not everyone is on board with the help Leone can offer. Faced with a handsome young cop or an injured FBI agent twice her age, I’ll leave it to you to guess which one the lovely Ms. Navarre falls in love with. Alas, the book is not one of Hoag’s best, but it’s still a decent page-turner.