Live Wire, by Harlan Coben (Dutton; $27.95)

It’s taken me a while to get around to reviewing Harlan Coben’s latest. Not due to any reluctance on my part, but just due to life getting in the way. But it reproaches me each time I see it on my shelf, so today is the day.

Coben started out writing a series of mysteries starting Myron Bolitar, former Duke basketball star turned sports agent/sleuth.  He then wrote a boatload of stand-alone mysteries, each one of which manages to pull me in from the first page.

With Live Wire, Coben returns to Myron Bolitar and his world of crazy misfits. In his latest case, Suzze T, former tennis star, now the pregnant wife of a rock star, asks for help. After posting the picture of her baby’s sonogram on Facebook she received an ominous message: “Not his.” Now her husband has run off, and she desperately needs to find him to explain.

The case takes an unexpected twist when Myron learns that the person who posted the message was his sister-in-law, Kitty. Kitty and Brad Bolitar had seemingly dropped off the face of the earth some years before after a fight with Myron in which some unforgivable words were exchanged. Now Myron’s father is dying, and wants his second son found.

The book is a solid mystery, despite its rather confusing plot. Where it fell apart for me was in the character of Bolitar’s sidekick, Win Lockwood. Win is basically a sociopath, but entertainingly so: promiscuous, cold, but always willing to have Myron’s back. As he ages, however, his promiscuity and detachment have become less entertaining and more pathetic, so that in this latest, he came across as just a dirty old man. (Though the two women he was with, beautiful Asian models named Mee and Yu, made for some humorous puns.)

Coben still writes up a storm, and his latest, though not his best, still makes for a good read.

Buried Prey, by John Sandford (Putnam; $27.95)

John Sandford amazes me. After 21 books in a series, most authors’ books would be predictable and formulaic. But not Sandford’s “Prey” books, starring Minnesota cop Lucas Davenport. This latest is as fast-paced, engaging, and unpredictable as any of its predecessors. Perhaps even more so.

Half the book takes place many years ago, when Davenport was a patrol officer trying to move to detective. He worked a case involving two young girls, sisters actually, who went missing. While the more experienced cops on the case focused on one suspect, Davenport believed someone else might have been responsible. The investigation was closed when the cops felt they had their man. Too young to have the confidence to rock the boat, Davenport didn’t put up much of a protest. The volume of other cases quickly distracted Davenport from the disappearance, and soon he, too, moved on.

The second half of the book takes place now, decades later, when the bodies of the girls have shown up in a building being torn down. Davenport, now the top cop in the state, feels he owes it to the girls and their parents to solve the case this time. He reviews his old notes and starts retracing his steps. Soon he sees connections that he hadn’t noticed back in the day. In the meantime, he learns that there were other victims, and has to live with the knowledge that his reticence may have contributed to their deaths.

As always with Sandford’s mysteries, the book is skillfully plotted, with realistic dialogue and great characters. Sandford is one of my favorite authors, and I am rarely disappointed. This latest is a doozy.

The Fifth Witness, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown; $27.99)

Micky Haller doesn't like his latest client. Lisa Trammel had already turned to him for help when her bank threatened to foreclose on her house. When she is accused of murdering one of the bankers, she naturally expects that Mickey will represent her. But Lisa balks at much of Mickey's advice, and he occasionally sees a disturbing viciousness that she barely holds in check.

The case is made more complicated by the fact that the prosecutor is a friend of Mickey's ex-wife, Maggie, whom Mickey is trying to woo again. Mickey will take advantage of any weakness he can exploit to win his case. His cutthroat ambition, along with the prosecutor accusing him of not playing fair, threaten to undo the new closeness he's been enjoying with Maggie.

Michael Connelly, one of my favorite authors, writes two series: Mickey Haller courtroom mysteries, and Harry Bosch police procedurals. Both are terrific, and I'm hard pressed to say which series I prefer. The Fifth Witness is similar to The Lincoln Lawyer, in that Mickey has to tread a very thin line between his personal moral code and the rules governing defense lawyers. I have to say, I never pictured Mickey Haller as looking even remotely like Matthew McConaughey, so I was stunned to learn that the actor would play him in this spring's The Lincoln Lawyer. But McConaughey did a great job, tried not to look too gorgeous, and was quite impressive. Nevertheless, I still didn't picture McConaughey when I read The Fifth Witness. For one thing, it's very hard to imagine someone who looks like he does having to work so hard to win back his ex-wife. I'm hoping they turn many more of Connelly's books into movies and that eventually, I won't be able to picture anyone else playing Mickey.

Meantime, back to books: if you haven't already discovered Michael Connelly, you're missing one of the best mystery writers of our times.

Started Early, Took My Dog, by Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown; $24.99)

The minute she sees the child being tormented, retired detective Tracy Waterhouse steps in. In an instant, she changes from a law-abiding, law-enforcing lonely soul to something far less predictable, on the run from the very cops she used to serve with.

The minute he sees the dog being tormented, private detective Jackson Brodie steps in. In an instant, he changes from a cold, lonely soul to someone who would nearly kill to protect his new pet.

Tracy knew the woman tormenting the child: it was a hooker very familiar to the Leeds police. She’s less certain about whether the hooker was the child’s mother. She knows something’s not quite right when she picks up a tail and finds a dead body. Jackson Brodie, meanwhile, reluctantly pursues his latest case: a woman, adopted as a child, who wants to learn all she can about her birth family.  

Kate Atkinson’s trademark is her ability to tell separate stories that end up being two parts of a third story. I really like her books, though none have wowed me to quite the same degree as Case Histories, her first Jackson Brodie mystery. This latest is most enjoyable, however, with memorable characters, poignancy, and her usual fabulous plotting.