PRAYERS FOR RAIN by Dennis Lehane

Sometimes I just want to curl up with nothing but Dennis Lehane novels, especially the ones featuring private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro.  Patrick is the narrator, and, along with his daunting pal Bubba, deters a stalker from continuing to bother Karen Nichols.  Six months later Karen has done a swan dive from the top of a tall building, and Patrick is determined to find out why.  She seems to have run into a huge spate of very bad luck, including the death of her fiancé.  Although Patrick and Angie have gone their separate ways, Angie soon becomes involved in the case, and our two favorite gumshoes are casting looks of longing at one another—again.  I just can’t get enough of these characters, and, although the twisty plot is front and center, their relationship and their sparkling banter is enough to keep me turning the pages.  And let’s not forget Bubba, who can’t resist an opportunity to blow things up and make the bad guys wish they’d never been born.  When he’s involved in a conversation, he gets most of the funniest lines.  The adversary in this novel is an elusive baddie whose mission seems to be finding his target’s weaknesses and exploiting those until his victim basically self-destructs.  His true motive, however, remains a mystery until the very end.