The new Tami Hoag book PRIOR BAD ACTS returns to Minneapolis and features the likable detective duo of Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska, previously seen in DUST TO DUST. Before they get on the scene, we open with the discovery of a truly brutal and heinous crime that involves the death and violation of a woman and two foster children. Hoag really isn’t a member of the gross-out group, those writers who lovingly detail every single aspect of a gruesome crime, but she is damn creepy. Her set pieces all have this cinematic feel about them, and the visual payoff is often wildly disturbing and intriguing at the same time.

The police force likes a drifter named Karl Dahl for the crime and they have a ton of circumstantial evidence against him, including a pattern of past criminal behavior. But Judge Carey Moore states that Dahl’s prior bad acts cannot be used as evidence in the trial, hence the title. This infuriates the force and the community, and the judge is threatened. As she heads to her car, an assailant strikes and beats her badly. Right around the same time, Dahl gets into a prison fight and is taken to hospital. With a remarkable stroke of luck, he escapes from the hospital and is now at large. Not good times for the judge, the cops or the city.

This would be enough for most novelists to work with, but Hoag has a lot more surprises in store for her readers. And I don’t want to ruin the fun you’ll have reading the book, but they include things like a busted marriage, a budding romance, more than one homicidal maniac and an uneasy feeling for just about everyone associated with the case. Everybody’s got something going on. You might be able to see a few of the twists telegraphed, but not all of them at the same time.

What makes the story work is Hoag’s craft with her characters. She provides an emotional certitude to the whole proceeding. You believe that Judge Moore acts the way she does for a reason, and you understand why and how Kovac and Dahl are acting the way they do. Their motivations and behaviors are proper and exact, with the sole exception of Judge Moore’s husband David, who seems a little inconsistent and doesn’t always act in his own best interests.

But that’s a minor quibble. The book is quite satisfying with a thrilling ending, and a hook that provides an opportunity for more Kovac and Liska books, which would be welcome. –Mark Rose

Buy it at Amazon.