Twenty minutes into a tour of the San Juan Islands, a charter boat is blown to smithereens, but who was the target? The four owners of a software company who refused to sell out to the looming competition? A newly married couple harboring nasty secrets? A deckhand who called in sick or the friend who took his place? The wealthy businessman and his sparkly new wife, whose children fear for their inheritance? Or just the businessman, as the wife actually left the boat before its departure, perhaps eager to dump an aging husband? Or maybe the boat itself, scorned by a radical eco-terrorist group? FBI Special Agent Matt Costa investigates in the next "Quinn & Costa" thriller; with a 100,000-copy first printing.

In bestseller Brennan's busy third Costa and Quinn novel (after 2021's Tell No Lies), FBI special agent Matt Costa, head of the agency's Mobile Response Team, and LAPD officer Kara Quinn, who's on loan to the FBI, travel to Washington's San Juan Island to investigate the bombing of a private charter boat piloted by retired FBI agent Neil Devereaux. Neil and his eight wealthy passengers died in the explosion, and the FBI is in a quandary about who the intended victim might have been. Was a businessman marked for death by his lovely young widow? Was Neil murdered by a criminal connected to a cold case he was investigating? Was the charter service the target of a domestic terrorist attack? Or is there something else afoot on San Juan Island? The tension rises as a top FBI forensic psychiatrist questions Kara's assessments of the suspects, as well as Matt's reasons for including her on the team. Brennan tends to overdo the details of her many characters' emotional lives, but she keeps readers guessing whodunit to the end as the attraction between Matt and Kara heats up. Romantic suspense fans will be satisfied. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (Apr.)