The Black Highway: Laughton Rees #3    by Simon Toyne Order:  USA  Can William Morrow, 2025 (2025) Hardcover, e-Book      Reviewed by Hilary Williamson The Black Highway follows Dark Objects and The Clearing as the third in Simon Toyne's splendid thriller series starring forensic specialist Laughton Rees and London DCI Tannahill Khan. Laughton is an academic, left with OCD from her mother's death, and over protective of her teen daughter Gracie. She and Tannahill have been in a relationship since Dark Objects, though Gracie is frosty about it. As this episode opens, a handless, headless corpse washes up just down the Thames from Laughton's riverside apartment building. Tannahill catches the case, and finds Laughton's address scrawled with a marker on the dead man's wrist. She consults on the case. Meanwhile, a school history assignment triggers Gracie to want to know about her father. Laughton doesn't want Shelby Facer, who'd served jail time for involvement in international drug trafficking, in Gracie's life. Shelby shows up to warn Laughton that a dangerous criminal, Billy Carter, is after both of them, blaming her for her dead father's putting him in prison. Laughton starts digging into John Rees's information and finds he had a storage facility. The story moves back and forth in time to reveal some of John's surprising secrets. Tension steadily rises to the grand finale, that almost ends Gracie and Laughton. The cliffhanger is Laughton's decision on what to do with her father's legacy. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews