There are times when those without a family of their own build one from close friends or co-workers. In the case of former Boston police detective Bill Robinson, it’s the colorful collection of characters who live at, work at or simply frequent his business, The Inn by the Sea, located along the waterfront of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

However, a few of these individuals are going to bring more trouble than Bill is prepared for --- enough, in fact, to tag his establishment with the title of James Patterson and Candice Fox’s latest collaboration. A recent resident of The Inn, who also does some work around the place, is Army veteran Nick Jones. THE MURDER INN opens with an incident from 2010. A four-person team that includes Nick is involved in a late-night raid of a house where they are told enemy infidels live. Each resident is brutally slain, even though it’s obvious they were a law-abiding civilian family.

"Chapter after chapter builds the tension like a layer cake, and all the various plotlines mesh together to create a conflagration that not every resident of The Inn will be able to escape."

Nick suffers not only from PTSD, but also from schizophrenia and other maladies. Bill knows that he was not told the entire story that caused these problems and just learns to live with Nick's occasional violent outbursts. He treats all the residents of The Inn as his family, including the woman he calls his girlfriend, Susan, and Sheriff Clayton Spears. Susan is an ex-FBI agent and immediately hits it off with Bill. Others include a fiction writer named Angelica; a one-time local gangster, Vinny, who now is wheelchair-bound; and Effie, a handywoman.

Clayton is the only person around to check in two individuals looking to stay for a few days. He has some initial suspicions about April and her son, Joe, which will make for one of several narratives that run through the story. Bill is called away to attend the funeral of a former colleague, Mark Bulger, which leads to a major plotline involving Mark's widow. Shauna lives across the street from a suspicious-looking house that seemingly has some asbestos and other nasty work being done to it. She is swift enough to spy that something more sinister is going on there.

The other enormous issue that upsets The Inn involves Nick. The events of that raid decades earlier will not rest, and the truth of what actually went down threatens to come out. There is some serious payback to be had by various violent and bad folks. Bill and the people he calls his family will be at the center of it all.

Patterson and Fox do a great job plotting the novel, which is never dull. Chapter after chapter builds the tension like a layer cake, and all the various plotlines mesh together to create a conflagration that not every resident of The Inn will be able to escape. THE MURDER INN is terrific storytelling featuring interesting characters you will enjoy spending time with and root for right through to the fiery finish.