Tag:

Mystery & Detective

Review

Haunting and Homicide

by Jeff Ayers

“Lou” Thatcher runs a ghost-tour company in New Orleans, and it’s popular with both the residents and tourists. The tours are so in demand that Lou is contemplating hiring help to run two per night. Lou has the perfect resume for the job, since she can see ghosts. A competitor who consistently clashes with Lou, Adam Brandt, declares her a fraud and wants nothing more than to shut her down and steal her clients. When he’s found murdered, she’s not surprised, but that’s when her life turns upside down. The cute cop considers her the prime suspect, and the ghosts she can see are not very talkative. You would think that Adam would steer her in the right direction of the person responsible for killing him, but he didn’t see who it was, and he also thinks Lou is responsible. The backdrop of New Orleans shines in this fun and chaotic tale of Lou, her gift, and her efforts to prove her innocence without looking like she needs to be hospitalized for talking to folks who are “not there.” This reviewer is dead serious that this haunting and homicide is a terrific series start.

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Review

This Ends Now

by Henrietta Thornton

With a shooting in her past, Liverpool Police detective Sheridan Holler is already known to new chief inspector Hill Knowles when the no-nonsense woman takes the job. Sheridan’s first assignment under the new boss is related to a cold case: Ronald Parks was accused of killing his son, but was acquitted. Now two bodies have been found on the local beach. One is tied to a statue, the other buried so that he drowned when the tide came in. Sheridan must inform the victims’ next of kin, a young bookshop owner, of the deaths, and she becomes central to the case, suffering further losses and dreading the police’s next knock on the door. Given the circumstances, but also because of her doggedness at the job, Sheridan relentlessly pursues all the tenuous clues that come up. Nevertheless it seems that this case may go unsolved. While readers soak in the rich details of life as a year-rounder in an English seaside town, and Sheridan’s loving wife who’s sometimes exasperated at her partner’s dedication to the madness that is police work, Sheridan continues to pick away at the case, leading to a shocking conclusion. Note that there is particularly awful sexual abuse here. A startling and engrossing whodunit.

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Review

Murder in the Dressing Room

by Brian Kenney

By day, Joe is a dreary accountant in a hotel, but by night they (Stars uses “they” pronouns when mentioning Joe) are Misty Divine, one of London’s leading drag queens. Joe’s wonderful life is thanks to Lady Lady, their drag mother, who discovered them, set them up in the right sequins and heels, and pushed them out onto the stage. Until the night Joe drops by Lady Lady’s dressing room and finds her dead, sprawled out on the floor, her fingers clutching half a truffle, her mouth oozing foam. Joe’s life is upended as they and the other drag queens become the prime suspects. But unlike the other girls, Joe won’t let only the police handle the investigation, especially when it means Joe could end up behind bars. Maybe I’ll find out who did it, said a voice somewhere in the back of Joe’s mind. Maybe I could catch the killer.” So we’re off and running, despite the fears of Joe’s boyfriend, Miles, tracking down the drag queens and kings who perform at the club, and some suspicious-looking hangers on as well. There’s plenty of humor in the novel—check out a side story about a very important Judy Garland dress, as well as the continual banter between Joe and Miles—but at its essence, this is a serious work of crime fiction, wonderfully executed and leaving unanswered some important questions. It has all the makings of a great series.

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Review

The Mistletoe Mystery

by Brian Kenney

Are you one of the many fans of Molly the maid? Then you’ll love Prose’s latest work, a novella—this reader finished it on the flight from Boston to New York—centered on the holidays. Since Molly’s much-quoted grandmother has died, the holidays just haven’t been the same. This year, though, boyfriend Juan Manuel is determined to bring joy to Molly every day of Advent. But when a few shadows pass over Molly’s work life in the Regency Grand Hotel, she’s suddenly doubting Juan, love, and their future. What a perfect stocking stuffer!

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Review

The Gonif

by Brian Kenney

Work has been sparse for detective Amos Parisman. He’s getting older, while his wife, whose dementia has become more advanced, requires greater attention. So when he’s asked to take on a job protecting a rare Torah—it was smuggled out of a North African Jewish community during World War II and somehow made its way to a small, rundown Sephardic temple in Hollywood—Amos is quick to say yes. A small, easy job, what could go wrong? Just wait and see. A bit of a classic gumshoe and a bit of a luft-mensch, or dreamer, Amos brings on his usual cast of characters to help out, from former-wrestler Omar to cousin Shelly to LAPD Lieutenant Bill Malloy (the two guardedly share information.) It’s a delight to follow Amos as he rolls around Los Angeles County, following potential leads while immersing himself in the world of rare books. Weinberger never fails to deliver a novel that’s as rich in character as it is in environment. Save it for that weekend when you need to escape.

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Review

The Specimen

by Henrietta Thornton

Fans of Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum and of unsettling fiction are ideal audiences for Fixsen’s “STEMinist” latest. The author introduces Isobel Tait, a desperate nineteenth-century Edinburgh mother. Her only child, a sweet boy named Thomas, is sickly, out of breath at the least exertion. When Isobel finally gets him to see an expert, the renowned Dr. Burnett, the boy’s condition is confirmed to be dire: his heart has a damaged valve and his life will be short. Then Thomas disappears. Frantic Isobel tries everything to find him, but it’s all futile and the police have no leads. When she gives in to a ladies excursion to Dr. Burnett’s display of medical oddities, a tiny, preserved human heart emits—to Isobel’s hearing only—the distinct rhythm that Thomas’s did (the music teacher in Isobel would know it anywhere). What follows is an absorbing and expanding mystery around what happened to Thomas and others like him, as well as an in-depth look at the work of resurrectionists—those who procured and used dead bodies to teach and learn anatomy, with competition for bodies fierce and lucrative. The story is based on real events detailed in an afterword by the author. This is ripe for a bookclub discussion on medical ethics.

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Review

Invisible Helix

by Brian Kenney

A new Higashino that will meet the expectations of his many fans, and then some. As is typical of Higashino’s unique police procedurals, the story goes both deep–into the past of its leading characters—and broad—Japan today, for example, where we learn about Japanese culture, such as the world of hostess clubs. The story begins with the discovery of a young man’s body in Tokyo bay; a bit of research reveals he is quite the loser who lives off his girlfriend while continuing to abuse her. But by the time the detectives locate their apartment, she’s skipped town. A likely suspect? Yes, but with an airtight alibi. Which draws Detective Kusanagi to “Detective Galileo,” a scientific genius and old friend, and the star of Higashino’s most well-known work The Devotion of Suspect X. In Galileo’s hands, connections are illuminated, the trauma of the past is brought to the forefront, and we learn the startling connections that link our characters. Brilliantly plotted and wonderfully rich in characterization.

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Review

The Rivals

by Brian Kenney

The many fans of Jane Pek’s first book, The Verifiers, will be thrilled to get their hands on this new novel featuring the indomitable Claudia Lin. In this darker and tougher novel, with a robust comic streak and a deep foray into technology—featuring synths, the scary new generation of bots—Claudia can’t help but employ some espionage tropes as she investigates a corrupt matchmaking firm with the help of a corporate whistleblower. But there is plenty else to distract Claudia. Her family is falling apart at a prodigious rate; she is barely speaking to any of them. Romantic tensions are growing between Claudia and not one but two women, one of whom is the ever soignée Becks, Claudia’s one-time boss and major crush. Questions about sexual identity are sending these 20-somethings spinning in and out of the proverbial closet. While Inspector Yuan, a character created by Claudia, provides plenty of maxims throughout the text. Lots of fun, but also some real terror, in what is a brilliant depiction of New York City.

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Review

A New Lease on Death

by Brian Kenney

Having left behind her life in Baltimore, 20-year-old Ruby Young has settled in a so-so apartment in a so-so Boston neighborhood. The previous tenant who rented her apartment, Cordelia Graves, died just a few months ago, reportedly by suicide. But now another neighbor has died, murdered in an apparent mugging, and Cordelia—she’s become the building’s ghost-in-residence—is determined to keep Ruby safe. But Ruby is one tough cookie herself, with zero fear of the supernatural, and as much as they may be opposites, eventually the two women settle on refrigerator magnets to (sort of) communicate. Hearing each woman’s interior monologue is a hoot, as their relationship as roommates grows and they head out into the world to investigate if Jake was actually murdered…and did Cordelia really die of suicide? Droll, a touch maudlin, and featuring two outstanding characters. Readers are going to be eager for a sequel to this story.

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Review

Death at a Scottish Christmas

by Henrietta Thornton

Christmas and cozies just go together. And the setting of this particular cozy series, Sea Isle in rural Scotland, is even more perfect than most for a Christmas tale. The seaside town where American doctor Emilia McRoy has made her home celebrates in a big and inclusive way, with traditional Christian festivities rubbing elbows with celebrations like Viking Yule and the Swedish St. Lucia Day. This year, an internationally famous band with roots in the town is visiting, adding at first to the excitement and then to Emilia’s tradition of investigating killings in Sea Isle. Taking the criminal side of the investigation is the doctor’s nemesis/crush Constable Ewan McGregor. Their future possibilities are already happening in the burgeoning, and cute, relationship between Emilia’s assistant, Abigail, and Abigail’s love interest, Henry. The four have their work cut out for them as they pry into secrets in the band’s relationships while dodging the media in a town that wants to help but is naive to the dangers afoot. The great cozy setting is matched here by the lovable but flawed characters and the tricky whodunit element. Readers won’t see the ending coming and will be eager to get Connelly’s two earlier books in the series (An American in Scotland and Death at a Scottish Wedding, both published earlier this year) while they wait for this one.

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