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Review

Hidden Pictures

by Brian Kenney

A super-smart suspense novel featuring a leading character you’ll never forget. Twenty-something Mallory Quinn is 18 months sober. She was poised to get out of her south Philadelphia neighborhood—with an athletic scholarship from Penn State—when tragedy struck and she spiraled out of control, ending up addicted to opiates. But as the book opens, she’s able to move on from her half-way house, has a terrific sponsor, and is off to the posh suburbs for the summer as the nanny of five-year-old Teddy, son of Ted and Caroline Maxwell. Initially, this is the perfect set-up. Mallory lives in her own tiny house in the backyard and she bonds with the precocious Teddy. All is well until Mallory notices Teddy’s drawings are taking on a sinister tone, with violent images, then greater complexity, well beyond what any child is capable of. Mallory is so well realized, her interior world so compelling, that when she suspects the supernatural is at work, we believe her. Ted and Caroline—an incredibly creepy duo—try to gaslight Mallory, but a neighborhood boy, a love interest, helps to keep her sane. Ultimately, this is a novel of healing, as two very broken individuals—Mallory and Teddy—find ways to move on.

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Review

A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons

by Henrietta Thornton

University College London, just after the Great War, is where bright young Saffron Everleigh pursues her botany studies and, as an assistant researcher, is the only female employee in her department. While Saffron’s beyond enthusiastic about her field and a gifted botanist, she endures sexist put-downs and even a lewd attack by a professor who has retired in place and lives on pipe smoke and sexual harassment. The botany department’s men are gearing up for a research expedition to the Amazon (the gentlemen never mention seeking input from any Brazilians as to local flora, adding to the musty flavor of the academic setting). Before they leave, disaster strikes: a professor’s wife collapses at a department party, perhaps a victim of poisoning. This series debut, also the author’s first foray into historical fiction, sees Saffron and her love interest, Alexander Ashton, sleuthing their way through department politics, botanical facts, and the sadder aspects of human nature as they figure out whodunit and learn more about their field along the way. Readers will learn more too, but unobtrusively while they cheer for Saffron and Alexander to for God’s sake have that kiss. Especially recommended for fans of Sujata Massey’s Perveen Mistry series, which stars another pioneer, the only female lawyer in 1920s Bombay.

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Review

A Harmless Lie

by Brian Kenney

With its nine volumes, the acclaimed Detective Louise Rick series can be off-putting. But the newest title, A Harmless Lie, is actually a good entrance point. Sure, you’re missing plenty of backstory, but Blaedel is careful in not assuming too much knowledge on the reader’s part. Here, Louise is in Thailand, on sabbatical before returning home and taking the position of Copenhagen’s Head of Homicide, when she gets a call informing her that her brother Mikkel has been hospitalized after attempting suicide and that his wife, Trine, abandoned him and their children just days before. Louise heads off to her claustrophobic home town of Osted, only to confront a withdrawn Mikkel, her anxious parents, and the gradual realization that her brother is being investigated for Trine’s murder. Concurrently, her good friend Camilla, a journalist, is looking into the decades-old disappearance of a teen girl whose body has just been discovered, a girl who happened to be a classmate of Trine. While crawling with cops, this book is hardly a police procedural. It’s a deeply emotional dive into family, community, and the power of secrets.

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Review

This Might Hurt

by Henrietta Thornton

The first crime here is psychological abuse of two sisters whose father, named only as Sir, is obsessed with building their resilience (“Lord knows you’re not going to get by on talent or gifts”). Sir’s isolated, scared little girls can’t go to bed at night unless they achieve enough points. Chores count, but they must also endure “tests” like sitting in the snow without a coat for an hour, holding their breath for two minutes, and kneeling on broken glass. The abuse leads the younger sister to become obsessed with Houdini and perfect a show based on his escapes, with the psychological underpinnings of that quest not lost on her or on readers. Fast forward to adulthood and there’s possibly a new crime afoot, or at least a mystery, as one sister, Natalie, visits a Maine island where she suspects her sister, Kit, is captive in a cult led by the reclusive, mysterious Teacher. The markers of a cult are glaring, but is Kit being held against her will and what’s behind the other residents’ willingness to obey? The solution is satisfying here, and getting to it will bring home to readers Teacher’s declaration of the book’s central truth: “The difference between a cocoon and a straitjacket [is] perspective.”

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Review

Death in Cornwall

by Brian Kenney

It’s been over a decade since we’ve heard from Cambridge DCI Arthur St. Just and criminologist cum mystery writer Portia De’Ath, now his fiancé. In coastal Cornwall for a mini-vacay, the two can’t resign themselves to just lying on the beach. Instead, they’re busy scoping out the town, sniffing out controversy—especially the proposed slipway the fisher men and women want to build—and meeting up with the locals. The latter includes the self-made aristocrat Lord Bodwally, who wants Portia to help him with his memoirs. But when they visit Bodwally’s grand estate, they find him lying in a pool of blood, his right carotid artery severed. And with that, St. Just is off and running as he tracks down the murderer. Given that this is a short book, Malliet does three things really well. First, we learn a lot about Cornwall and the Cornish people—the Cornwall tourist bureau should sign her up. Two, the tension between wealthy incomers—seeking a weekend home and driving up the cost of housing—and the residents is one that is playing out in many communities, and here it is especially well-handled. Finally, this is one of the few mysteries that addresses the experiences of COVID-19; most series just skip over it as though it never happened. Malliet sets the novel after what the characters call “Plague Time” and doesn’t hesitate to discuss the impact the pandemic had on this small Cornish town. It’s refreshing. Cozy readers will be happy to welcome back this duo.

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Review

Fake

by Brian Kenney

A wonderful descent into the New York art world led by a hero you won’t soon forget. Twenty-something Emma Caan is a highly skilled artist who excels at recreating nineteenth-century paintings. She works for a studio that supplies clients, ranging from high-flying collectors to leading museums, with reproductions to protect their investment. Lest there is any confusion, each work is signed by Emma and indicates it’s a copy. Despite her expertise, the salary is lousy and she can barely afford life in New York City. Until she meets Leonard Sobetsky, Russian billionaire, renowned art collector, and one of her clients. Before she can say do svidaniya to her old life, Sobetsky sets her up as the assistant director of New York’s most important gallery, moves her into a glam SoHo apartment, and continues to feed her paintings to reproduce. Within weeks she’s doing vodka shots on Sobetsky’s private plane, heading to Art Basel Hong Kong. But since every chapter begins with a brief transcript of Emma being interviewed by the FBI, even the least attentive reader will know that something is up. The question is, how bad will it be? And while Emma is really just a copyist—true forgers take much more care, sourcing period canvas, for starters—why quibble when you’re having so much fun? A little chick lit, a little Devil Wears Prada, and a little Barbara Shapiro, Fake should find broad appeal.

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Review

The Younger Wife

by Henrietta Thornton

Quirky meets romantic meets WTF in this Australian import that’s brimming with character. Two very different sisters are at the center of the maelstrom. Rachel is a beautiful and successful baker who spends a week perfecting tiny roses on a wedding cake but eats two tiers of it by the fistful hours before delivery. Her sister, Tully, married with two little boys, is consumed with anxiety and a compulsion to steal. The younger wife of the title is Heather, who’s marrying Rachel and Tully’s father, Stephen Aston, and whose big day opens the novel. Stephen’s ex-wife roaming the altar during the vows is bad enough, but when the couple moves to the sacristy, a scream is heard and the celebrant reappears in the church covered in blood. Hepworth (The Secrets of Midwives) then chronicles the leadup to this chaos, a saga that involves a hot water bottle stuffed with $100,000, romance with cake-pun-loving delivery man, and hilarious observations about the million ways we sabotage ourselves. The Astons also face their share of heartaches and worse (Alzheimer’s disease, rape, and domestic violence are part of the story). For fans of domestic suspense and of the Australian show Offspring, which also features loving sisters and their interesting choices.

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Review

The Shadow House

by Brian Kenney

If you arrived at your new house and found a package at the entrance, containing not some welcome brownies from a neighbor but a grotesquely mutilated bird, what would you do? If you’re anything like me, you’d head for the hills. But Alex, a single mother-of-two, is made from tougher stuff. Escaping from an abusive partner in Sydney, she’s trying out Pine Ridge, an ecovillage out in the boondocks. She’s committed to making it work, especially for her teenage son, who got up to some nasty behavior online. But the bird is only the beginning, as the creepiness includes more horrifying presents, vandalism, and surveillance. It turns out that Alex’s experiences aren’t all that different from those of another family six years ago, but unlike many a thriller protagonist, she’s no victim, and sets out to confront the evil before it destroys her and her family. This is a wonderfully written work of suspense that succeeds in being both completely terrifying and totally believable—no easy feat. For fans of Lisa Jewell and Ruth Ware.

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Review

The Kindness of Strangers

by Brian Kenney

We have cozies. We have thrillers. But what about mensch mysteries? Because Amos Parisman, AKA the oldest living Jewish PI in Los Angeles, is the definition of a real mensch. In this third book in the series, Amos comes out of retirement—a retirement he doesn’t want—to help the police investigate the murder of a homeless woman, whose corpse he discovers in the bottom of a garbage bin. Soon enough, that murder is followed by others, until it becomes clear that Amos and his sidekick, Omar, have a serial killer on their hands. While the search for the killer provides the underpinning of the novel, there’s always a lot more happening in an Amos Parisman mystery than just the crimes. Here, Amos does a lot of research into the homeless—so often invisible—and the discomfort they provoke in much of society. Also prominent in this volume is Amos’s poignant relationship with his wife, Loretta, who’s now living in a nursing home as she has advanced dementia, and his growing relationship with Mara, whose husband also lives in the home. A wonderful voice, great storytelling, and a completely unique character.

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Review

The Favor

by Henrietta Thornton

This is one of the best-plotted thrillers I’ve read in ages; it’s also a great portrayal of why women experiencing domestic violence are stuck. We meet Leah Dawson during her carefully choreographed routine of visiting a different liquor store every day. She hides the booze from her violent husband, Liam, a lawyer who has coercive control down to an artform. Leah’s legal career came to an end recently because her husband didn’t like her reading a work email at dinner, and took action. At the liquor store, something compels Leah to follow a fellow shopper, pediatrician McKenna Hawkins. Soon Leah’s routinely watching the woman, who’s also needlessly unemployed, from the street outside McKenna’s clinically clean home. The reason Leah felt drawn to McKenna is quickly apparent: McKenna is just like Leah, or rather McKenna’s husband, Zach, is just like Leah’s Liam. Both have ego to spare, enjoy speaking slowly to their wives to make them feel stupid, and are financially abusive. These guys have it all, until they don’t. No spoilers here, but get this book for the very original storyline, true-to-life characters, and a searing look at the pain and mind games endured behind too many closed doors. For more on why “she can leave any time” is ridiculous and insulting, read the afterword by Murphy, an attorney who’s represented survivors of intimate partner violence.

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