If you are in any doubt about Peter Leonard’s status as a terrific, top-shelf author, turn to the Acknowledgements page at the very back of his newly published novel and read the first paragraph about how the book acquired its title. It’s as good as the thriller that precedes it and will make you want to read the book immediately. If you only have access to the eBook, you’ll have to wait, but trust me, UNKNOWN REMAINS by any title is worth your immediate time, attention and hard-earned moola.

The premise of UNKNOWN REMAINS is intriguing. It takes place during and in the days following the Islamist terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Jack McCann, a high-stakes stockbroker, is in the office of his brokerage firm in Tower One, waiting to get called on the carpet --- or worse --- by his bosses. Meanwhile, a couple of shady characters named Duane Cobb and Ruben Diaz have just pulled up to Tower One, and Diaz is getting ready to go inside to brace Jack for reasons that are connected to those that have him in trouble with his superiors.

"It had been a while since we heard from Peter Leonard, but UNKNOWN REMAINS is worth the wait. He can take an idea and run with it to its best possible place, taking the best possible route."

But then the first plane hits, and everything changes. Jack disappears, almost certainly dead, leaving behind his grieving wife, Diane, and several very angry people. Diane quickly moves into the latter group when she begins making post-mortem discoveries. For one, their savings account is all but depleted. For another, her departed husband may have joined the choir invisible, but before doing so, he embezzled a high six-figure sum from a brokerage account and his bosses are not happy. For a third, Jack apparently owes a lot of money to a loan shark, and his collector --- Diaz, with some undercover assistance from Cobb --- demands to be repaid. The firm and the loan shark want the proceeds from Jack’s life insurance policy, but Diane isn’t ready to give that up, not by a long shot. Then she finds out some other things about him, and her grief mixes with a healthy dose of anger.

Diane decides that she will not be a grieving widow who will be pushed around by the firm, the shark, or anyone else. She begins doing a little investigating on her own, something that quickly gets her into some trouble, but she doesn’t care. She follows a somewhat unexpected trail that leads back to her past with Jack, even as Diaz and Cobb are pursuing the same evidence. Meanwhile, a tenacious NYPD detective isn’t far behind. I won’t tell you the ending --- Leonard does a better job of that than I ever could --- but let me recommend that you don’t get too attached to anyone, since not all the characters make it to the end of the book. Some, on the other hand, find... But that would be telling.

It had been a while since we heard from Peter Leonard, but UNKNOWN REMAINS is worth the wait. He can take an idea and run with it to its best possible place, taking the best possible route. I’d be perfectly happy if he published a book every month, but I’ll gladly wait for each new one, no matter how long it takes.