mysteriesandmore-blog

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Mysteries Publishing in April

The following are the books I reviewed recently that are publishing this month. All of the reviews appeared in Booklist Magazine. Out of these five novels, The Girl I Used To Be is the one I recommend most. I'm sure it will be a movie before long--what a gripping story! The Bad Break. Orr, Jill (author). Apr. 2018. Prospect Park, hardcover, $24.95 (9781945551321); paperback, $16 (9781945551208); e-book (9781945551215). First published March 1, 2018 (Booklist). Riley Ellison has quit librarianship to work as a small-town reporter in this second in the series (after The Good Byline, 2017). The job suits her, but tell that to her colleague Spencer, who refers to Riley as “the intern” and makes her do boring research for the obituaries of the “pre-dead,” alive-and-kicking locals whose obit details have to be kept current, just in case. What Riley thought was busywork, however, turns out to be the basis for exciting journalism when a local doctor is found dead. The road to unmasking the killer isn’t smooth personally or professionally for Riley; while finding her way as a new journalist, she endures an old flame reappearing and tiptoes through a new romance she fears is on the rocks. The small-town nature of this mystery, with the requisite fish-bowl local politics, relationships, and grudges, makes it perfect for cozy lovers who want something more modern. Readers will enjoy Riley’s humor and determination even when things turn sad. Recommend this after Victoria Gilbert’s A Murder for the Books (2017), which also features a librarian turned sleuth.

A Breath after Drowning. Blanchard, Alice (author). Apr. 2018. 448p. Titan, hardcover, $14.95 (9781785656408); e-book (9781785656415). REVIEW. First published March 15, 2018 (Booklist). Dr. Kate Wolfe’s had it tough. Her mother died by suicide, her relationship with her father is all but over, and her sister, Savannah, was brutally murdered years before. When a troubled girl is abandoned by her mother in the hospital where Kate works, the psychiatrist takes her care personally but begins to regret it after the new patient’s family is revealed to have ties to Kate’s painful past. Blanchard (The Breathtaker, 2003) excels at portraying a multilayered main character who’s damaged but strong, and at sending readers chasing after red herrings. The closing twist, a complete surprise, caps a tale that is as absorbing as it is emotional and thought provoking. This is one for readers of Patricia Cornwell’s Dr. Kay Scarpetta novels; while Kate isn’t a medical examiner, Blanchard’s tale has a similar feel to Cornwell’s series, each starring a woman in the field of medicine who cares deeply about her job and about getting justice for those who’ve been wronged.

Cave of Bones. Hillerman, Anne (author). Apr. 2018. 320p. Harper, hardcover, $26.99 (9780062391926). REVIEW. First published February 15, 2018 (Booklist). When Navajo teen Annie Rainsong goes missing on a camping trip aimed to help troubled girls get on track, tribal police officer Bernie Manuelito happens to be en route to the New Mexico lava-fields scene. Annie turns up unharmed, but still there are mysteries to be solved. What scared Annie in the cave where she spent the previous night? Where is the man who tried to find her? Is someone embezzling funds from the organization that arranged the trip? At the same time, Bernie’s husband, Sheriff Jim Chee, is searching for a different missing man while trying to assuage his wife’s worries about her sister’s city life. Fans of the series will appreciate that Lieutenant Leaphorn, injured in a previous series entry, makes an appearance here. Also present in Hillerman’s accessible and relaxingly paced work are her usual unobtrusive and enjoyable details about Navajo culture and the southwestern landscape. Readers who enjoy the work of Anne’s father, Tony Hillerman, as well as mysteries by Nevada Barr, will welcome another outing with Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito.

The Girl I Used to Be. Torjussen, Mary (author). Apr. 2018. 368p. Berkley, paperback, $16 (9780399585036); e-book, $11.99 (9780399585043). REVIEW. First published January 31, 2018 (Booklist Online). Torjussen’s gripping psychological thriller (following Gone without a Trace, 2017) unspools in two parts. The first starts when overworked Gemma Brogan has dinner with one of her real-estate clients and puts away more wine than planned. Afterward she can’t remember much, but photos and a video she later receives from an anonymous sender seem to show that her already rocky marriage will soon be at an end. Then the book takes a huge swerve as Gemma gains totally unexpected information, starting a second half that lets up a little on the gas but will still keep readers rapt. Stories featuring young, unreliable female narrators are, of course, a seemingly unstoppable trend, but this one is better than most. Readers will genuinely feel for Gemma as her life threatens to unravel; they’ll also find in Torjussen’s work some memorable villains within the daily-life-gone-wrong nightmare that rings only too true. Give this to patrons who are looking for yet another The Girl on the Train read-alike.  

Paper Ghosts. Heaberlin, Julia (author). Apr. 2018. 368p. Ballantine, hardcover, $26 (9780804178020); e-book (9780804178037). REVIEW. First published February 15, 2018 (Booklist). Heaberlin’s mysterious protagonist—her real name is only revealed at the book’s end—claims that Carl Feldman, an elderly man acquitted of multiple murders, is her father and that the Texas road trip she’s taking him on will allow her to discover if he’s really a killer. In reality, the woman believes that Feldman, who is either faking dementia or is, to quote him, a “pure grade lunatic,” killed her sister years before. She’s determined to put her obsession to rest by finding out the truth, but it’s tough: Carl might be old, but he’s still scary, and, as the trip unwinds, it becomes clear that he may not be the only malevolent force she faces. Heaberlin’s spot-on depiction of mental anguish, her careful creation of characters who are mean and troubled yet compelling, and an unexpected twist at the end make this a winner; suggest it especially to patrons who like a Texas backdrop and or the work of Megan Abbott.

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March Mystery Novels and Short Stories...and a Mermaid

Publishers’ spring lists are now well underway, and the books I reviewed this month include some of this season’s standouts: Simone St. James’s memorable The Broken Girls and, for Downton Abbey fans, Amanda Allen’s Santa Fe Mourning.

Booklist

The Broken Girls. St. James, Simone (author). Mar. 2018. 336p. Berkley, hardcover, $26  (9780451476203); e-book, $12.99  (9780698198487). Review first published January 1, 2018 (Booklist). St. James’ riveting genre-blender combines a supernatural tale with intertwined mysteries from the 1950s and today. The historical story line features four girls who have been sent to Idlewild Hall, a forbidding Vermont boarding school where the education is as meager as the care. One of the four, Sonia, is particularly in need of love and attention but gets none, and her disappearance is swept under the rug as her friends’ pleas for a search go unheeded. The later story takes place in 2014, when Idlewild is again central to a mystery: What exactly happened to the murdered sister of Fiona Sheridan, a journalist who sees the renovation of the school as her chance to get to the bottom of the crime. Haunting events in both eras—literally—is the malevolent spirit of Mary Hand, a terrifying figure whom the schoolgirls encounter regularly. This horror-tinged mystery is frighteningly believable, peopled with feisty characters, and features top-notch dialogue. St. James, who won the 2013 RITA Best First Book award for The Haunting of Maddy Clare (2013), might have another prizewinner on her hands. The Echo Killing. Daugherty, Christi (author). Mar. 2018. 368p. Minotaur, hardcover, $24.99  (9781250148841); e-book, $11.99  (9781250148865). Review first published February 1, 2018 (Booklist). Journalist Harper McClain has her hands full trying to make it at a Savannah newspaper that always risks being scooped by the local TV news. She doesn’t need the complication of reporting a murder that bears a suspicious resemblance to her mother’s killing 15 years before, especially since she’s still putting her life together after finding her mother’s body. Over the years, the police officer who helped Harper after her mother’s death became a champion and a confidant, and he and her boss at the paper are incensed when she continues to investigate the new crime after she has been ordered to drop it. Every mystery reader knows there’s no investigator like one who’s been ordered off the case, but the clichés end there as Daugherty offers in-depth characterization, realistic dialogue, and a feisty romance subplot in a story that will absorb procedural aficionados until its surprising ending. 

A Funeral in Mantova. Wagner, David P. (author). Mar. 2018. 228p. Poisoned Pen, hardcover, $26.95  (9781464209499); paperback, $15.95(9781464209512); hardcover, $9.99  (9781464209529). Review first published January 31, 2018 (Booklist Online). Rome-based interpreter and translator Rick Montoya is no stranger to adventure, with previous books seeing him solving crimes in various Italian locales. In this fifth series installment, he’s off to Mantova, home of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and the Rondini family, whose American relative, Angelo, needs Rick’s translation services. Angelo Rondini’s cousin Roberto was recently found drowned near where he enjoyed fishing. At first it seems no more than a tragic accident, but, as usual, Montoya finds more than he bargained for and must uncover the real story. Unfortunately, Wagner fails to establish Roberto as a fleshed-out character, so that readers will not be compelled to find out what happened to him. Also, while the many details of meals that Rick enjoys on his trip are a highlight, as are the author’s appended notes on the food and wines of the area, the details on cheese production and land politics are less interesting. Give this to readers who are already fans of the series, or to patrons who are planning a visit to Italy.

I Bring Sorrow & Other Stories of Transgression. Abbott, Patricia (author). Mar. 2018. 272p. Polis, paperback, $15.99  (9781943818877). Review first published March 15, 2018 (Booklist). Abbott, author of the Anthony Award–nominated Concrete Angel (2015) and Shot in Detroit (2016), promises stories of transgression here, and the characters in her 25 tales illustrate what a wide-ranging term that can be. In one of the finest entries, we see Hanna, a Wisconsin homesteader whose poverty, desperation, and victimhood lead her to an impossible decision; another standout features a dying man whose ex-wife shocks him by turning up to help in his last days. A famous singer of old even makes an appearance to show that sexually-harassing transgressions can at least make a solid story. While more than a few of the tales are too short and underdeveloped, and the single sf entry is jarring and not the author’s forte, this will suit readers who want quick reads that often end in a satisfying twist. Writing classes that take place in libraries will appreciate the better tales here as brief but pithy examples of the short story craft.

Santa Fe Mourning. Allen, Amanda (author). Mar. 2018. 304p. Crooked Lane, hardcover, $26.99  (9781683315476). Review first published February 27, 2018 (Booklist Online). Allen (a pseudonym for “an award-winning, multipublished author”) portrays 1922 New Mexico as a mix of the Wild West, Prohibition-era excess, and encroaching East Coast sensibilities. Newcomer Maddie is determined to leave her Astor family strictures behind but also struggles to shed her grief at her husband’s death in the Great War. She and the other artists forming a community in burgeoning Santa Fe live in parallel to their less-fortunate neighbors, many of them Pueblo Indians, and a blithe, patriarchal benevolence characterizes the newcomers’ attitude toward longtime residents. Maddie fits right in, referring to her servant Juanita, for example, as her best friend, though it’s clear Juanita knows better than to assume such coziness. When Juanita’s husband is found dead, Maddie turns sleuth, exploring the city’s underworld while maintaining the cocktail-tippling romance that is the life of an heiress. Allen’s re-creation of 1920s language, dress, and clashing norms helps create an immersive whodunit, and Maddie is sure to become a beloved heroine. Try pairing this with Sujata Massey’s The Widows of Malabar Hill (2018), another historical mystery in which a smart woman faces ruthlessness.

They All Fall Down. Cohen, Tammy (author). Mar. 2018. Pegasus, hardcover, $25.95  (9781681776477). Review first published January 5, 2018 (Booklist Online). What if you’re convinced that some of the other patients in your psychiatric-care facility didn’t kill themselves but were murdered? Who will believe you? Can you even believe yourself? That dilemma faces Hannah, who can technically leave the new-agey, euphemism-loving clinic where she’s been staying since both her marriage and her hopes of a baby dissolved, but she stays because the outside world is just too much. While readers try to discern whether there was even a crime here or not, various characters in Hannah’s circle of dysfunction vie for the position of killer, and professionals at the clinic enact their own deadly dramas. Cohen’s read-alike for The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl offers a more realistic look than those books into a disturbed mind’s second-guessing and fear. Give this fast, absorbing read not only to fans of the ubiquitous Girl titles but also to A. J. Finn’s superb The Woman in the Window (2018).

School Library Journal

There Was an Old Mermaid Who Swallowed a Shark. Colandro, Lucille. Scholastic. 9781338129939. PreK-Gr 2—This underwater romp is at once funnier and more educational than "There was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly." The mermaid's marine diet is skillfully inserted into the old rhyme ("There was an old mermaid who swallowed a squid./That's what she did!/She swallowed a squid./She swallowed the squid to romp with the shark…") and her antics are observed by a boy and girl in a boat who add commentary on the target animals' habits and features. Closing nonfiction additions complement the silliness with a paragraph each of facts about the creatures featured in the story— sharks, squid, tropical fish, eels, crabs, sea stars, and clams—and a search-and-find game. Lee crams delightful cartoon details onto the undersea spreads. His zany style is reminiscent of Quentin Blake's work; its inclusion here tips a solid text into "read it again" territory. VERDICT The rare book that's perfect for at-home reads and rereads as well as for storytime.

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Murder, Maps, Mansions

This month sadly saw the last issue of IndiePicks Magazine. Below are the last of the mystery reviews I did for IndiePicks. They include one of my favorite books of this spring--Sujata Massey’s The Widows of Malabar Hill; historical fiction is not usually my thing, but I found this one a cut above the rest. Recently I also reviewed some non-mystery titles, including the outstanding Where the Animals Go (maps and infographics...you can’t go wrong) and The Country House Library, a look at the best appointed home libraries of old in Ireland and Britain.

IndiePicks Magazine

The Widows of Malabar Hill. Massey, Sujata. Soho House, $17.95, 9781616957780. The Widows of Malabar Hill is set in 1920s Bombay, where the city’s first female lawyer, Perveen Mistry, finds her gender for once working in her favor. Her lawyer father’s client dies and his three widows, Muslims who live in seclusion from the outside world, need representation. Perveen is a Parsi Zoroastrian, not a Muslim, but she’s compassionate and her kind nature and smarts are put to the test as she tries to help women who find themselves unprotected and in great danger. Over the course of the novel, readers also travel back in time to a few years before, when Perveen engages in a forbidden romance, a period that brings Parsi traditions to the fore. Those who enjoy stories about women using their wiles to make it in tough situations will relish this layered story and find a favorite character in Perveen, while soaking in the details of colonial-era India. This is one to give patrons who enjoyed Suzanne Joinson’s A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar, which is set in a different place but the same era and has a similar feel. The Black Painting. Olson, Neil. Hanover House, $24.99, 9781335953810. It’s not exactly your traditional romance, but a years-long hidden affair is just one aspect of the supernaturally tinged family drama in The Black Painting. The book opens as a group of cousins, close as children but now living separate and far-flung lives, gather at their grandfather’s old-money Connecticut mansion. The patriarch has just been found dead, his horrified face staring at an empty space on the wall that, before its theft years ago, was home to the Black Painting. The painting, a Goya masterpiece, was rumored to be cursed—anyone who looked at it would go insane and meet a horrible end. Is that what happened to the grandfather? Who’s going to get his money? Where’s the painting now? And finally, can this dysfunctional, greedy clan get along for even the short time it will take to sort this all out? Olson deftly creates a festering family dynamic with psychological twists and turns that complement the supernatural element of the story, keeping readers wondering to the end as they try to unravel this family’s contorted relationships and buried past. The painting in the story is a real one; book groups that try this tale could pair it with Stephanie Stepanek and Frederick Ilchman’s Goya: Order & Disorder.

Dying Day. Edger, Stephen. Bookouture, $8.99, 9781786812704. Subtitling your book “Absolutely Gripping Serial Killer Fiction” means you’d better come through and Dying Day doesn’t disappoint. This second in the Detective Kate Matthews trilogy sees the Southampton, England police detective on the trail of a serial killer while trying to atone for the misjudgment that she believes led to the death of a young colleague. The guilt is crushing, and Matthews will do almost anything to catch this man, including put her life and career on the line. The trope of a detective who has to go it alone because nobody else cares enough could come across as well worn, but Matthews is a highly relatable character whom women who work too hard will see themselves in, and her quest to make things right is as compelling as the hunt to find the killer. The solution to this puzzle is unpredictable, too, making Dying Day an absorbing trip that readers won’t forget. This is a great readalike for Belinda Bauer’s The Beautiful Dead, another novel that stars a determined young woman on the heels of a monster.

In the Shadow of Agatha Christie: Classic Crime Fiction by Forgotten Female Authors, 1850-1917. Klinger, Leslie S. Pegasus, $25.99, 9781681776309. Only the Bible and Shakespeare have sold better than Agatha Christie’s books, says the introduction to In the Shadow of Agatha Christie, but the authors included here set Christie’s stage. The introduction—which provides an extensive early-mystery reading list—also explains what is hard to imagine now: mystery as a genre barely existed until the establishment of a professional English police force in the mid-nineteenth century. Highlights here include “Traces of a Crime,” an Australia-set police procedural by Mary Helena Fortuna, the first woman to write detective fiction. It’s fascinating to see the detective protagonist struggle to find a killer with only the most rudimentary tools and forensic knowledge at his disposal. In another standout tale, L.T. Meade—many female authors of the time used initials or pseudonyms, were anonymous, or were simply uncredited—and coauthor Robert Eustace introduce the social minefield surrounding an heirloom pearl necklace that a disreputable woman has her eye on. A main character in this tale has the shocking habit of wearing her evening dresses too high at the neck, which telegraphs what readers are in for here: stories that delightfully show what made a page-turner in the nineteenth century and the birth of domestically set mysteries of today.

Booklist

The One. Marrs, John (author). Feb. 2018. 416p. Hanover Square, hardcover, $  26.99 (9781335005106); e-book (9781488084874). First published December 1, 2017 (Booklist). In this mystery with an SF twist, it’s the present day, but the world has been radically changed by a new kind of dating service: Match Your DNA, which pairs love-seekers with the one person in the world who is their genetic soulmate. It sounds perfect at first, and many couples worldwide are blissfully happy with their match, but the downsides are considerable. What if your match is decades younger or older, or he or she lives in a far-off country? What if you’re already married when you’re notified that your match has been found? The possibilities can become knotty, and they’re well illustrated by the several people featured in Marrs’ alternating chapters, among them a young Englishwoman whose match is in Australia, an engaged couple who didn’t meet via Match and fear their test results, and a career-focused scientist who wants to find love at last. Complicating the story still further is a serial killer who uses dating sites to find his prey. Marrs’ engrossing, believable thriller raises intriguing questions about our science-tinged future.

Library Journal

The Country House Library. Purcell, Mark. Yale University Press. 9780300227406. Purcell (deputy director, Cambridge Univ. Library; formerly libraries curator, National Trust) meticulously portrays dozens of libraries throughout Britain and Ireland in what is or was a private home (some are now museums). In an introduction that sets the tone for the book, Purcell carefully defines a "country house library"; like the rest of the work, each sentence has been deliberated at length and is packed with meaning and references. Thereafter are chapters that each cover a trend in country home book collecting over the past 2,000 years, starting with the likelihood of villa libraries in Roman Britain and continuing through today, when the dwindling fortunes of the aristocracy and the politics surrounding wealth have meant a certain amount of downsizing. The trends are illustrated by top-quality photographs and charts of the libraries and reproductions showing some of their treasures. The back matter is also impressive and includes a lengthy notes section and thorough index. VERDICT Libraries covering British or Anglo-Irish history, library science, and architecture are encouraged to acquire this gorgeous volume.

Where the Animals Go: Tracking Wildlife with Technology in 50 Maps and Graphics. Cheshire, James & Oliver Uberti. Norton. 9780393634020. This gorgeous data trove is refreshing in its admission that scientists are nowadays awash in the flood of information that comes from animal tracking devices and methods, and that even that is a fraction of what could be collected. Cheshire (geography, Univ. Coll. London) and Uberti (formerly senior design editor, National Geographic; both, London: The Information Capital) are relative amateurs in a field that doesn't even have a fixed name yet come across as pleasantly wonderstruck by the technology involved in, and the results of, animal tracking work. They impart earnest accounts of scientists' endeavors and some of the individual subject creatures involved. Accompanying the text are beautifully designed four-color maps and other visualizations that illustrate some of the breakthroughs that have been made using this newly found information—one map shows, for example, how the Ethiopian government had to redraw the boundaries of a giraffe conservation park after tracking data made it clear that the giraffes lived elsewhere. VERDICT The illustrations and step-by-step data-collection efforts combine to create an inspiring introduction to an important area of science.

School Library Journal

Festival of Color. Sehgal, Kabir and Surishtha Sehgal. S&S. Beach Lane. 9781481420495 PreS-Gr 3—Brother and sister Chintoo and Mintoo are getting ready for Holi, the Indian festival of colors. Their process is slowly revealed as the siblings gather petals, dry and separate them, and then crush the dried petals into powders. Lively digital illustrations show the children's excited family members and neighbors carrying the powders through the streets, and then "POOF!" wet and dry powders fly through the air in a rambunctious celebration. Readers will learn from the book's endnotes that Holi celebrates "inclusiveness, new beginnings, and the triumph of good over evil." This is useful information, but the real beauty of this attractive book is that it shows the country's home life and community togetherness beyond the holiday celebration. Children in primary grades will find this an accessible read, whereas younger patrons can enjoy it as a read-aloud and learn about colors and cultural festivals in an engaging way. VERDICT A must-buy for picture book sections that will delight children regardless of their familiarity with the holiday. Cool Cat Versus Top Dog. Yamada, Mike. Frances Lincoln. 9781847807380. Preschool-Gr 1—All year long, Cool Cat and Top Dog tinker, tweak, and polish their race cars to perfection until it's time for the annual showdown the Pet Quest Cup. Each competitor has an arsenal of tricks ready on the big day: this time, Cat has her Bone Bazooka, while Dog's packing the fearsome water gun Soggy Moggy. Something's different this year, though—the competition takes a twist when the sometime-rivals work together and are joint winners. Don't take this for a preachy tale about cooperation. The competition is cutthroat and resorting to shenanigans to win by any means necessary is hardly an exemplary message. Nonetheless, the lively text keeps the suspense running high and action-packed illustrations featuring expressive animal characters will hold little readers' interest until the end. VERDICT An exciting choice for children who are fans of car races and readers who have outgrown Penny Dale's Dinosaur Zoom Pigín of Howth. Kathleen Watkins. Dufour Editions. 9780717169726. Pigín (pronounced "pig-een" and meaning "little Pig") enjoys three adventures in this gentle and colorful look at life in a well-to-do Irish seaside town. Pigín lives in the fishing village of Howth in a cozy house overlooking the sea. He spends his days enjoying friendship with Sammy Seal, Sally Seagull, and other animals, as well as some human pals. The three stories depict Pigín learning to swim, going for a magical picnic with fairies, and dressing up to go to the horse races. While the dialogue can be clunky in places, the tales are a little reminiscent of what Paddington and Lyle the Crocodile get up to, with love and friendship complemented by the odd, nutty activity. Suggs's striking watercolors are up to the task, depicting the Irish town, its inhabitants, and the child and animal characters with colorful aplomb. VERDICT This is sure to be a hit in Ireland as Watkins is well known there—in her own right as a harpist but also as the wife of one of Ireland's most beloved celebrities, the broadcaster Gay Byrne. The book should find fans on these shores, too, as well-depicted friendship and seaside outings are hard to beat. An additional but nonessential purchase.

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January Mysteries

I feel like I’ve been reading a lot lately, and a look at what I reviewed that’s coming out this month is happy vindication! Highlights are Jessica Fellowes’s The Mitford Sisters (Downton Abbey fans, take note) and Brian Freeman’s The Voice Inside (give me a nice serial killer any day).

Booklist

The Burial Society. Sadowsky, Nina. Jan. 2018. 336p. Ballantine, hardcover, $26 (9780425284377); e-book (9780425284384). Review first published Dec. 15, 2017 (Booklist). This layered thriller opens with a woman stalking another woman and then drugging and kidnapping her, and it only gets weirder after that. As the story unfolds, then refolds, then jumps back and forth in time, readers are introduced to a dysfunctional family in which the mother is missing, the father is found murdered, and an uncle who assumes guardianship of his orphaned niece and nephew protects them to the point of imprisonment. Hovering around these troubled lives is the kidnapper from the beginning of the book, a woman named Catherine, whose work in the mysterious Burial Society finds her often disguised and going by one of several aliases. Things sometimes become difficult to follow as minor characters come and go, but several unexpected twists help readers make sense of what has happened. Sadowsky, who has worked in TV and movies (her debut, Just Fall, 2016, is in development for a STARZ series), and her knack for dialogue and setting a scene are on display here. A complex but strangely exciting thriller.

If You Knew Her. Elgar, Emily. Jan. 2018. 384p. Harper, hardcover, $26.99 (9780062834041); Harper, paperback, $15.99 (9780062694607); Harper, e-book, $10.99 (9780062694621). Review first published Nov. 15, 2017 (Booklist). Cassie Jensen appears to have the perfect life. She and her handsome young husband are head-over-heels in love, and her mother-in-law is devoted to the young couple. All is well until Cassie leaves a Christmas party alone and is later found in a ditch, with hypothermia and injuries that suggest she was run over. She ends up sharing a hospital ward with Frank, a patient who, like Cassie, seems to be in an unreachable state. But Frank actually has locked-in syndrome, meaning that he can see and hear but not move or communicate. As time goes on, Frank comes to realize that Cassie is in in great danger. Finding out who exactly bears the vulnerable young woman ill will is a mystery that unfolds via shifting points of view, exposing betrayals new and old as well as wretched regrets. Elgar’s gratifying, well-written tale of family predicaments will be a good match for women’s-fiction readers looking for something a bit darker. A Map of the Dark. Ellis, Karen. Jan. 2018. 304p. Little, Brown/Mulholland, hardcover, $26 (9780316505666); paperback, $13.99 (9780316505673). Review first published Nov. 1, 2017 (Booklist). Elsa Myers is tired of it all. The canny FBI agent wants to spend time with her dying father, but when she’s told she’s the only one who can help with the case of a missing New York City teen, she reluctantly becomes involved. The case, as well as the imminent death of Elsa’s father, whom she resents for not protecting her when she was an endangered child, brings up harsh memories and the desire to self-harm that is never far off in her mind. The story is, at times, narrated by the missing teen, creating a tense tale that keeps the reader wondering if abusers ever get their due and whether true escape is really ever possible. While Ellis’ novel isn’t too different from the many abducted-girl tales out there, it’s compelling nonetheless and makes a solid choice for readers who enjoy Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad series, which stars another self-doubting female detective trying to make it in a man’s world. The Mitford Murders. Fellowes, Jessica. Jan. 2018. 432p. Minotaur, hardcover, $25.99 (9781250170781); e-book, $12.99 (9781250170804). Review first published Nov. 15, 2017 (Booklist). The “upstairs, downstairs” aspects of England after WWI come to life in this mystery by Fellowes, a niece of Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. The main have-not character here is Louisa Cannon, the cold, hungry niece of a horrible man who tries to force her into prostitution. Luckily, she finds a job “in service” to Lord Redesdale and his real-life family, the Mitfords. What’s not so fortunate is that on her journey to Asthall Manor she witnesses a possible murderer making a getaway. Louisa and the flighty, husband-hunting eldest daughter of the house, Nancy Mitford, work together to solve the crime, helped by two young men, one who was left behind when war began and the other who can’t forget what he endured at the front. This pitch-perfect mystery, based on a real crime, features the genteel Edwardian social dystopia beloved by fans of Downton. Those drawn to the WWI angle could also try Siegfried Sassoon’s classic Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1930).

IndiePicks

Walking the Bones. Silvis, Randall. Jan. 2018. 464p. Sourcebooks Landmark, $15.99, 9781492646914. Review first published Dec. 1, 2017 (IndiePicks). A common criticism of crime fiction is its obsession with the deaths of pretty white girls. Don’t any other victims count? In Randall Silvis’s Walking the Bones, they do. The victims in this case are five African American teens whose skeletons seem to point to the guilt of a mega-rich pastor of a mega-church. Chasing answers are Pennsylvania state troopers Ryan DeMarco and Jayme Matson, romantic as well as work partners who are visiting the Kentucky church’s town for a funeral. A new obsession is just what DeMarco needs; he’s on sick leave from work—meaning that his boss is counting on a mental health break to help the grieving, damaged DeMarco stick with the job. This is a stellar work. Silvis provides an intimate look at a relationship in jeopardy, one that readers will root for as they delve into DeMarco’s and Matson’s painful pasts. (This relationship will provide plenty of fodder for bookclub discussions; the book helpful closes with a guide for such groups.) The author’s insightful portrayal of small town secrets and loyalties plunges readers deep into a Southern mystery that will keep them wondering right up to the end. Though the authors’ themes are not the same, readers who enjoy Anita Shreve’s thoughtful writing should give Silvis a try. The Voice Inside. Brian Freeman. Jan. 2018. 336p. Thomas & Mercer, $24.95, 9781542049047. Review first published Nov. 2017 (IndiePicks). An emotional, sometimes nerve-wracking tale awaits readers in Freeman’s second book in the Frost Easton series, after The Night Bird. The novel is the author’s fourteenth work overall, and his experience shows, as his plotting and character creation will draw readers in from page one. The author’s dialogue, too, is realistic and immediate, all adding up to an immersive and thought-provoking experience. Inspector Easton is a San Francisco homicide cop—one who loves his city even though it hasn’t always been kind to him. Easton was a lawyer in his younger years, but when a family member became the victim of serial killer Rudy Cutter, Easton switched careers, determined to find justice. He’s not one of the boys—he prefers quiet time with his cat to the cop-bar scene, for starters, and his reputation as an outsider grows even more difficult to bear after he’s forced into an unpopular move regarding the manipulative, ruthless serial killer who’s at the center of the book’s intrigue. Easton’s loneliness is echoed by the worn-down characters around him, each of whom is deeply affected by the lengthy killing spree. Don’t take this for a dreary read, though. Readers will be alternately scared by some of the scenarios in this fast thriller and saddened by the sympathetic Easton’s tough breaks; they will also revel in Freemans unexpected plot swerves and his habit of keeping the reader in the dark as to who exactly stars in a scene—which often means who’s being killed—until it’s over. A major background point in this tale is that the serial killer is himself a victim. That nuance, along with Easton’s infuriating habit of staying on the honest side of the fence no matter what, creates an insistent ambivalence in the readers’ perception of this story. Be prepared for moral dilemmas that last after the final page. Tana French fans are a likely audience for Freeman’s kind, careworn Inspector Easton; the book is also one to give to bingewatchers of the Northern Irish serial-killer TV series The Fall. Sarah Graves. Death by Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake. Jan. 2018. 240p. Kensington. $25. 9781496711281. Review first published Jan. 2018 (IndiePicks). Every year, gourmet bakery The Chocolate Moose crafts chocolate cheesecakes for a fundraiser that’s a headlining event in the small, downeast Maine town of Eastport. It’s that time, and Jacobia, or Jake, and her business partner Ellie are ready to roll when Jake finds a body head-down in a vat of chocolate. There are worse ways to go, but the timing couldn’t be worse—the fundraiser keeps asking for more and more of the bakery’s to-die-for goods while Jake and Ellie resume their side jobs as town sleuths. Sarah Graves’ Death by Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake, which is perfect for chilly evenings, has the feel of a cozy. There are no vicars or knitting, granted, but other subgenre tropes—yummy food, local grudges, and family worries—are lavished on readers here, along with a cracking mystery that takes the lid off the Eastport’s quaintness. Cozies are enamored of groan-worthy titles, and potential readers of this book, as well as of Graves’s earlier titles starring Jake Tiptree, such as Dead Cats Bounce and Mallets Aforethought, should know that the author’s plots and writing are far less silly than the titles promise. A bonus is the appended recipe for the cheesecakes that star in the book. Graves’s publisher, Kensington, is one to check out for fiction by and featuring African Americans.

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December Mysteries

Below are mysteries I reviewed for IndiePicks and Booklist that are publishing this month. I know we’re all sick of “The Girl” books, but bear with me on The Girl in Times Square. It’s one of the best books I read this year.

Bury the Past. L’Etoile, James. Dec. 2017. Crooked Lane Books. $26.99. 9781683314424. Review first published December 2017 (IndiePicks). L’Etoile’s first book in this series saw Sacramento PD Detective John Penley and his partner, Detective Paula Newberry, confronting a serial killer, one whose gruesome work provided an illicit organ for Penley’s son. The reverberations of that crime still loom large in Penley’s marriage and are just the beginnings of the mess facing the partners in L’Etoile’s second series outing, Bury the Past. Newberry is the focus of the mystery this time, as a case she handled while working in the police department’s Internal Affairs division is coming back to bite her in a career-ending way. Serious new crimes related to that episode are piling up, and it looks like someone is trying to put the detective behind bars by framing her. You don’t find a desperate but ethical police officer character every day; adding to the book’s appeal is that it features in-the-news foes: white supremacists who find it in their hearts to take a break from race war and engage in a little drug dealing. L’Etoile’s authentic tone and snappy dialog keep the pace sprinting along here. This is one for fans of Karin Slaughter, especially those who enjoy her Will Trent books. The Girl in Times Square. Simons, Paullina. Dec. 2017. 608p. Morrow. $16.99. 9780062444356. Review first published October 15, 2017 (Booklist). Ostensibly, this hefty novel is about a missing young woman, Amy; her scattered, then very ill, roommate, Lily; and the detective, Spencer, assigned to the missing-person case. It could also be said to be about Lily’s romantic life, her selfish mother, and her money-grubbing sisters. But this gorgeous book is much more than a conventional thriller. It’s a family drama that extends from the Holocaust to today; a lesson on the deep love that damaged souls need and are capable of; and a lasting illustration of what’s really important in life. Although originally published in Australia in 2004, the book is only now receiving widespread distribution in the U.S. Readers will find Simons’ sharp prose and unforgettable characters—Spencer and Lily, especially—captivating, and librarians will find the idea of read-alikes for The Girl in Times Square to be almost beside the point. After finishing the novel, readers will only want one thing: more Paullina Simons. Give this one the word of mouth it richly deserves.

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Mysteries Publishing in November

The following are mysteries I reviewed lately that are publishing this month.

From IndiePicks Magazine

I recently started writing and editing for a new publication, IndiePicks Magazine. The first issue was published this month and is available in full at issuu.com. I reviewed several books for it, and one of them, When the Lonesome Dog Barks, is out this month.  

When the Lonesome Dog Barks: A Jace Salome Novel. Barker, Trey R. Down & Out Books. $18.95. 9781946502148. First published November 1, 2017 (IndiePicks Magazine). Police and private detectives, make way! In When the Lonesome Dog Barks, sheriff’s deputy Jace works as a jail guard in Zachary County, Texas. One might think that by the time criminals are locked up the mysteries are over, but not in this jail. The guards are facing what they at first think is a random uptick in fistfights, but after an altercation that seems off to Jace—she can’t let go of the idea that when the staff got involved, an object was passed among the inmates—the fights turn out to be part of a ring that has roots outside the jail’s walls. At the same time, deaths and an attempted burglary in the outside world command the attention of “road” sheriff’s office staff, including Jace’s best friend and former colleague, Rory. The county has a lot going on, and it’s no comfort to Jace’s grandmother, whom she lives with and who deeply disapproves of her granddaughter’s dangerous job. Texas native Barker, a patrol sergeant and investigator for the Illinois Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, is well up to the task of portraying the gritty, challenging realm of a sheriff’s office. What’s less obvious is how he manages not only to very effectively get inside the mind of a female protagonist, but also to explore the difficulty of being a woman with PTSD struggling to prove herself in the man’s world of a jail. With several plotlines to contend with here, Barker also succeeds admirably in keeping the tension going while juggling numerous shady characters, office rivalries, and family drama. Give this to readers who enjoy Emily Littlejohn’s Gemma Monroe Mysteries. After they’re done with it, they have several other Barker titles to choose from: this is the third Jace Salome novel (after Slow Bleed and East of the Sun), and the author also has The Barefield Trilogy under his belt.

From Booklist

Poison. Niederhoffer, Galt (author). St. Martin’s, hardcover, $26.99 (9781250085290); e-book, $12.99 (9781250085306). First published October 1, 2017 (Booklist). This gripping, insightful work dissects a marriage in which Cass, a wife and mother of three, believes she is under attack from her perfect-to-the-outside-world husband. Throughout the novel, Cass’ racing thoughts, tormenting self-doubt, and fear for her family’s safety lay bare the torture of being gaslighted by a lying narcissist. Readers will be gripped by the did-he, didn’t-he plot: the mental gymnastics portrayed on the page are so spot-on that it is difficult to imagine that the novel isn’t autobiographical. Niederhoffer’s ending is a little too abrupt, but that’s a small price to pay for a work that’s otherwise thoroughly absorbing. This is a great read-alike for Chevy Stevens’ Never Let You Go (2017); it will also be popular with readers of Niederhoffer’s literary novels, such as A Taxonomy of Barnacles (2006). In addition, selections from Poison will be ideal for makerspace writing workshops in which participants learn how to turn a character’s thoughts into prose.

A Season to Lie. Littlejohn, Emily (author). 304p. Minotaur, hardcover, $25.99 (9781250089410); e-book, $12.99 (9781250147851). First published August 15, 2017 (Booklist Online). It’s winter in Colorado, and a quiet, snowy return to work is just what Detective Gemma Monroe is hoping for on her first day back from maternity leave. Fans of Littlejohn’s Inherit the Bones (2016) will know what a foolhardy dream that is. A murder at a private high school is just the first of several crimes that may or may not be linked and that Monroe must again put her life on the line to solve. Although Littlejohn’s cast of local characters sometimes seems a bit overstuffed, for readers who crave eccentricity, there is much to enjoy in the interactions of oddball teachers who can’t get along, old friends whose relationship is a puzzle, even gangsters who land in the country and bring big-city headaches to Monroe’s backwoods jurisdiction. The ending includes an unpredictable twist and leaves questions open for a sequel. In the meantime, readers of this quick-to-consume tale could try Louise Penny’s equally charming if more substantive Chief Inspector Gamache mysteries, which boast their own endearing eccentrics. The Shadow District. Indridason, Arnaldur (author). Translated by Victoria Cribb. 368p. Minotaur, hardcover, $25.99 (9781250124029); e-book, $12.99 (9781250124036). First published September 1, 2017 (Booklist). Iceland is the setting for this mystery within a mystery, with one death taking place during the WWII occupation of the country by Allied soldiers, and the other in the present day. The historical story heavily features the upheaval of the Situation, when the previously isolated country was overrun by foreigners, many of whom struck up scandalous relationships with locals. One such woman and her boyfriend stumble upon a body during a clandestine meeting, a murder that remains unsolved in the present-day portion of the story, when police are investigating what seems the routine death of a man at home. The intertwining stories will keep readers engaged until the book’s unexpected ending; also absorbing are Indridason’s characters, who make wartime and today’s Iceland come to life. The dialogue rings true and imparts a forthright yet gentle tone that matches the harsh but dreamy landscape, which is lovingly described. Indridason is an award-winning crime writer, so this will sell itself to mystery fans, but also try it with military-history buffs.

Special Envoy. Echenoz, Jean (author). Translated by Sam Taylor. 256p. New Press, hardcover, $24.95 (9781620973127); e-book (9781620973134). First published September 27, 2017 (Booklist Online). This odd, surprising treat for metafiction lovers takes place in two parts and two very different locations. In the first, washed-up French singer Constance is kidnapped on the mysterious orders of a cold general. Constance’s kidnapping could not go less according to tradition—bumbling, infatuated captors aren’t ideal—and she’s briefly free until being whisked off for part two, when, in a twist that readers will struggle to remember anything comparable, she becomes a spy in North Korea. Everything else about this book is unexpected, too, from the author involving readers in decisions about the narrative to his imparting of the story with a haughty, languid detachment that is almost all plot, little characterization. This technique proves effective in creating the impression that the male characters surrounding Constance are interchangeable in their uselessness, but it sometimes makes it hard to remember who’s who. Overall, however, this remarkable work should continue Echenoz’s literary prize-winning streak. Apt complements are Paul Fischer’s A Kim Jong-Il Production (2015) and Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto (2001). This belongs in the hands of literary-fiction readers who enjoy a crime element in the story.

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October Mystery Releases

Below are some reviews I wrote of books that are releasing this month. Sadly, I didn’t love any of them, maybe because I’ve been spoiled by another book: John Boyne’s The Heart’s Invisible Furies, which I wrote about for Library Journal’s What We’re Reading. I see that the book made ALA’s Carnegie Medal longlist. If you do give it a try and then want more of John Boyne, I also recommend his A History of Loneliness.

Give Me the Child. McGrath, Mel (author). Oct. 2017. 384p. HarperCollins/HQ, hardcover, $26.99 (9780008259082); e-book (9780008215613). Review first published September 15, 2017 (Booklist). Jamaican-English Caitlin (Cat) Lupo is a psychologist with a checkered career—her work with very troubled children at one point involved informing the court that a boy who later went on to kill wasn’t a danger to society. She questions her professional decisions constantly, but when a late-night visitor turns out to be a new, malevolent force in her family, her personal life also becomes fraught with doubt and fear. Readers will be troubled along with narrator Cat as things go from bad to worse, and she is forced to fight accusations of mental illness while saving her child from an evil that’s far too close to home. While this story can edge on dreary, the many fans of The Girl on the Train will welcome another British-set look at a caring mind that’s pushed to the brink, and will appreciate McGrath’s astute observations and way with metaphor. A minority main character whose race isn’t the focus of the story is a pleasure to find, too.

The Last Mrs. Parrish. Constantine, Liv (author). Oct. 2017. 400p. Harper, hardcover, $25.99 (9780062667571); e-book, $12.99 (9780062667595). Review first published September 1, 2017 (Booklist). The twists keep coming in this psychological roller coaster from debut author Constantine, the pen name of sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine. The novel, which portrays a complicated friendship between two women, opens with Amber Patterson worming her way into the affections of a guileless acquaintance, all the while seeking to leave her humble beginnings behind and bag a trophy husband. No spoilers here, but things don’t go as Amber or readers expect. The surprises come amid a sometimes-too-lengthy tale of betrayal and abuse—one wishes that Amber’s part of the tale, particularly, would speed up—but overall this is a satisfying thriller that offers a window into the darker side of glamorous lives and powerful men.

Odd Child Out. Macmillan, Gilly (author). Oct. 2017. 432p. Morrow, paperback, $15.99 (9780062476821); e-book, $10.99 (9780062476852). Review first published September 15, 2017 (Booklist). Noah and Abdi have been best friends ever since Noah came to school in Bristol, England, in the middle of the year, fresh from cancer treatment. Abdi, whose family are immigrants from a Somali refugee camp, is glad for a friend, even if that friend is a little needy and self-absorbed. The two are inseparable, but then the worst happens: during a sleepover, the two take a middle-of-the-night excursion, and Noah falls—or is pushed—into the canal; now he’s fighting for his life. What happened that night and how wartime terrors insinuate themselves into refugees’ new lives are the dual focus of this gripping look at grief, friendship, and class divides. Macmillan excels at getting into the minds of terrified, brokenhearted parents, and even if, at times, she veers too much toward telling rather than showing, this mix of police procedural and thriller will satisfy fans of the author’s previous work as well as those looking for something after Tana French.

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Netflix Announces Series Based on Malin Persson Giolito’s “Quicksand”

Hooray! Netflix is creating a TV series based on the Swedish novel Quicksand, one of my favorite books of 2017. The Swedish Crime Writers Academy named the book the best Swedish crime novel of the year. If you enjoy Quicksand, also try Ali Land’s Good Me, Bad Me, which was released earlier this month.

Here’s the starred review of the Quicksand that I wrote for Booklist magazine last year.

Quicksand. Giolito, Malin Persson (author). Translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles. Mar. 2017. 432p. Other, hardcover, $26.95  (9781590518571). REVIEW. First published December 1, 2016 (Booklist). Giolito’s astonishing English-language debut (she has published three other books in her native Sweden) is a dark exploration of the crumbling European social order and the psyches of rich Swedish teens. It alternates between courtroom and jailhouse scenes and life before a school shooting, telling the first-person story of Maja, a rich-girl-accused-shooter who is perfectly portrayed as obsessed with the actions of others and simultaneously jaded beyond belief by them. Maja is said to have shot classmates in a pact with her boyfriend, and the broad details of the crime aren’t in dispute; rather the trial hinges on what exactly happened and why. In crafting a first-person narrative told by a school shooter, many authors would go too far, creating an overly likable character; Giolito masterfully walks this fine line, developing a protagonist whom readers will remain intrigued by and ambivalent about, but whom they won’t necessarily like. Giolito’s past as a lawyer and as a European Union official poke through the pages as she exposes the cutting racism that refugees in Europe endure, even in supposed left-wing-idyll Sweden. Praise must also go to translator Willson-Broyles, as the incisive language that’s on display here surely involves translation precision that’s second to none. — Henrietta Verma

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Mysteries Publishing this Month

I reviewed these three mysteries for Booklist magazine recently, and especially recommend Otto Penzler’s Bibliomysteries.

Nugent, Liz. Unraveling Oliver. Aug. 2017. 272p. Simon & Schuster/Scout, hardcover, $26 (9781501181474); e-book, $11.99 (9781501167768). This review was published in the July 2017 issue of Booklist magazine. Secrecy and sadness permeate this rich debut novel by Irish author Nugent, an award-winning radio and TV writer. Named Crime Fiction Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, the tale centers on the mysterious, lonely Oliver, an Irish boy and then man who is scarred by his father’s rejection and visits that same rejection on all around him. Chapters that are narrated in turns by Oliver, his wife, friends who accompanied Oliver on a fateful working vacation in France when he was a teen, and a member of the French family that became his fixation. This is a successful device, as it allows a puzzle involving the trip to come slowly into view as readers are skillfully given glimpses of events and of the resulting devastation that Oliver so nonchalantly metes out. Catholic-clergy dysfunction and its effects on families feature strongly here, making the thriller a satisfying read-alike for John Boyne’s A History of Loneliness (2015).

Penzler, Otto (editor). Bibliomysteries: Stories of Crime in the World of Books and Bookstores. Aug. 2017. 540p. Pegasus, hardcover, $26.95 (9781681774589). This review was first published in the June 1, 2017 issue of Booklist magazine.

Penzler—bibliophile, author, and owner of New York’s Mysterious Bookshop—presents stories commissioned by the shop and written by some of today’s leading mystery writers. The tales feature books and bibliophiles, and the best of them is easily John Connolly’s “The Caxton Lending Library and Book Depository,” which won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short Story. One of the most imaginative short stories in any genre, it blurs the line between fiction and reality when a retired accountant begins encountering fictional characters in real life. Hot on its heels in terms of quality is Thomas H. Cook’s “What’s in a Name?,” which looks at an alternative life for one of history’s worst figures. The remainder of the collection is almost universally enthralling and features beloved gumshoes such as Columbo along with favorite authors including Jeffrey Deaver, C. J. Box, Reed Farrel Coleman, Loren D. Estleman, Laura Lippman, Anne Perry, and Nelson DeMille. A must for mystery shelves.

Stein, Triss. Brooklyn Wars. Aug. 2017. 236p. Poisoned Pen, paperback, $15.95 (9781464207198); e-book, $9.99 (9781464207204). This review was first published in the May 1, 2017 issue of Booklist.

In each of Stein’s Erica Donato mysteries, doctoral student Donato is pursuing historical research on a different Brooklyn neighborhood when trouble starts—trouble that she can’t ignore. In Stein’s latest, Donato is this close to finishing her dissertation, which covers the history of Brooklyn’s storied Navy Yard, but motivation is hard to come by. A stern warning from her advisor sets her on the research path once more, where she becomes embroiled in intrigue that stretches back a few decades and involves dirty politics, extramarital shenanigans, and more. Donato endures present-day relationship drama as well, and the combination of boyfriend woes, local interest, and well-written dialogue keeps the pages turning even though this mystery isn’t top-notch. Other than for fans of the series, this could work for readers who enjoy titles by Lawrence Block and the TV show The Wire that cover graft and tumultuous lives along Baltimore’s gritty waterfront.