Book reviews: A new Hercule Poirot novel and other mysteries

“After That Night,” by Karen Slaughter (William Morrow)

When a young woman dies in the ER after being raped, Dr. Sara Linton promises the victim she’ll find a way to bring the attacker to justice. The attack dredges up memories of Sara’s own rape 15 years earlier, and there are uncanny similarities.

Three years later, at the trial of the woman’s accused rapist, his befuddled mother, Britt McAllister, confronts Sara, saying, “I can’t save the rest of them, but I can save my boy.” Britt is Sara’s medical school nemesis, part of a gang of interns whose leader is her husband. With the help of her fiancé, Will Trent, Sara investigates the members of the old gang in an attempt to uncover their horrifying secret. It’s a brutal story filled with arrogant, sexist physicians who are only too happy to make Sara relive her past terror.

“Salt House Place,” by Jamie Lee Sogn (Lake Union)

Delia is haunted by what happened to her friend Zee, who disappeared when the two girls were swimming in a lake, along with a third friend, Cara. Zee’s body was never found. Now, a decade later, Delia receives a strange message from Cara, and in hopes of coming to terms with Zee’s disappearance, Delia decides to meet with her old friend. But Cara is gone.

The search for Cara leads Delia to a strange cult-like self-empowerment group of “goddesses.” Against her better judgment, Delia is sucked into the group and finds herself marked for leadership. But there are too many questions. Why does Cara’s brother, Tom, encourage Delia in her investigation, then insist she quit? Where is the organization’s charismatic founder? Is his sister taking over the organization? Why did one of the group’s biggest supporters suddenly withdraw?

Thank “goddess,” as the women say, Delia is committed to getting to the bottom of this deadly group.

“Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night.” By Sophie Hannah (William Morrow)

Much to the annoyance of Edward Catchpool, he and Hercule Poirot are pressured into spending Christmas at Frellingsloe House, a crumbling seaside estate, where they are expected to solve a murder. The dead man was a hospital patient, and Frelly’s owner, a dying man himself, is scheduled to be housed in an adjoining hospital room. His wife fears he will be the next victim. The two detectives are at Frelly, at the instigation of Carchpool’s overbearing mother.

Catchpool is anxious for Poirot to solve the murder so that the two can escape the dreary mansion — and Catchpool’s mother, who lured him to the old mansion in the first place — and spend Christmas at home in London. “Hercule Poirot’s Silent Night,” is the second in an authorized series by Sophie Hannah.

“The Death of Us,” by Lori Rader-Day (William Morrow)

On a rainy night, Ashley Hay shows up at Liss Kehoe’s house with her baby, Callan. “Is daddy home?” she asks. The infant is the son of Liss’s husband, Link, the result of an affair shortly before he married Liss. When Ashley is told Link is away, Ashley thrusts the baby at Liss and orders her to take him. Then Ashley disappears.

Fifteen years later, Callan and some teenagers spot an old car submerged in a nearby pond. The body inside is Ashley’s, and the blow on her skull shows she’d been murdered. The sheriff investigates the murder, but he’s hampered by a deputy he inherited from the previous sheriff: Link’s father.

As she tries to protect Callan — and Link — from gossip and finger-pointing, Liss herself is shunned. Her probing into Ashley’s murder exposes family secrets and puts Liss in danger. “The Death of Us” is a good mystery with some unexpected twists and turns.

“Last Word to the Wise,” by Kann Claire (Bantam)

Sisters Ellie and Meg Christie, owners of a bookstore in a Colorado mountain town, are conned into signing up for a matchmaking dinner at their local library. Neither woman has faith in meeting a romantic interest, but their cousin Lorna is embarking on a book-oriented matchmaking venture.

Ellie’s match is a stuffy professor who wants to talk about Becket, while denigrating Ellie’s favorite author — Agatha Christie, of course. Meg, however, hits it off with a dapper businessman and philanthropist. By the time the evening is over, she’s falling in love.

The only problem: He’s found dead the next morning. Ellie and Lorna discover the body, but it is Meg who becomes the primary suspect. When it turns out that the murder victim has broken hearts across the West, other women emerge as possible killers.

This is the second in the Christie Bookshop Mysteries by Colorado author Ann Claire.

“The Manor House,” by Gilly Macmillan (William Morrow)

“Be careful what you wish for” warns a subtitle on the cover of “Manor House.” No kidding. Nichole and Tom Booth have won the lottery and built the ultra-modern glass house of their dreams. But when Nichole comes home to find her husband dead in the swimming pool, she wishes the dream house had never been built. Is her husband’s death an accident or murder? You can guess.