Tag:

Mystery & Detective

Review

Ashes Never Lie

by Henrietta Thornton

What’s better than a gripping story that also teaches you a ton about a fascinating subject? That’s just what readers will get in Goldberg’s follow-up to Malibu Burning (2023). This time, odd-couple Los Angeles arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker are faced with several perplexing crimes. The central case involves a series of just-built, as-yet-uninhabited homes for the wealthy that combust in a far more explosive way than an empty house. Then there’s the man who’s found dead in a fire, but the fire didn’t kill him. Fraud pokes its head up too, with all keeping Sharpe—a genius with fire investigation, but socially not so much—and his still-learning partner busy with intriguing theories based on detailed descriptions of the workings of fire, accelerants, and more. The characterization here is wonderfully enjoyable, with the partners and their various associates bantering in ways that’s sometimes hilarious and always reveals the human behind the shield. Goldberg’s author’s note helpfully details the books about fire dynamics and investigation that he used for research, and readers may want to try these as well, notably Fireraisers, Freaks, and Fiends, “Torchered” Minds by former LA County arson and explosives detective Ed Nordskog, who also answered questions for the book.

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Review

An Intrigue of Witches

by Henrietta Thornton

Addison, author of the Enchanted Bay series, brings her lively voice to a series debut featuring a heroine to remember. Historian Sidney Taylor, a young Black woman, is on furlough from the Smithsonian when she gets a mysterious offer to go on a quest in her hometown, Robbinsville, VA, the heart of which is the Josiah Willoughby museum. Sidney’s parents are rich—her father is the Speaker of the House of Representatives—but they believe in the young woman making her own way, so when she receives a wax-sealed envelope with an invitation inside to find something historically significant in Robbinsville, and the prize is a million dollars, she’s in. There’s danger and intrigue in store though, with Sidney receiving threatening messages and increasing pressure on the museum to give in to virtual reality as the future, a government program that seems more sinister by the minute, headed as it is by a woman who will remind readers of scary real-life tech-exec Elizabeth Holmes. The small-town scene, loving family members, and history-tinged puzzles keep the pages turning fast; there are plenty of real historical details packed in, too, surrounding a long-running conspiracy about the U.S. presidents. A winning series starter.

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Review

Killing Time

by Brian Kenney

Silly me. I’ve long held a bias against novels written from the grave (sorry V. C. Andrews!), where the author has died and someone else has taken up the series. Can these books really be any good? Well I’m happy to report that the forthcoming Agatha Raisin novel, Killing Time, written “with R. W. Green,” is a whole load of fun. Beaton was astoundingly prolific, writing multiple series under a handful of names. She died in 2019, the same year she published the 30th Agatha Raisin book (the series, now written by R. W. Green, is up to 35). With several plots in action—Agatha’s detective agency is pursuing shop burglars, an antiques dealer/neighbor is murdered, Agatha creates a promotional day to launch a new wine, a love affair takes her to Mallorca—fans get to meet again all their favorite characters from Raisin-world in action, from Mrs. Bloxby, the vicar’s wife, to several of Agatha’s paramours. But at the heart is Agatha herself, as curmudgeonly and cantankerous, tough and tender as ever. Agatha, it’s great to have you back.

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Review

The Gardener’s Plot

by Brian Kenney

Any cozy reader will assure you that there are few places more dangerous than the community garden. And Maggie Walker—who helped create the garden in Marlowe, her small Berkshire town—is reminded of this fact when opening day arrives and she discovers a boot jutting out of the garden. Attached to a foot. Which is attached to a body. Yikes! To make matters worse, Violet, whose idea the garden was, has seemingly disappeared. Maggie has only recently returned to Marlowe, smarting after the death of her “not-quite ex-husband,” and taking over the home of her recently deceased grandmother. But one thing keeps happening after another, from threatening telephone calls to harassment from a cousin as Maggie tries to find out what happened to Violet. An engaging look at small town life and death, this book was the recipient of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of American First Crime Novel Award.

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Review

Gathering Mist

by Jeff Ayers

A missing nine-year-old boy has Deputy Mattie Wray bring her K-9 partner, Robo, into uncharted territory to initiate a search and rescue for him in Mizushima’s latest terrific series. By leaving Colorado and heading to the Olympic Mountains of Washington State, Mattie risks Robo’s job and delaying her wedding. From the start, the information she and the team of searchers receive is a bit sketchy. When one of the other searcher dogs gets ill, it becomes clear that someone doesn’t want the team to find this boy. Since the missing kid is the son of a celebrity, and the longer he’s out in the wilderness, the louder the clock is ticking to still find him alive and keep away the paparazzi. Mizushima’s series engages on every level: the authenticity of the search scenes; the setting, in which the reader can feel the moss and dampness of the region; and the insight into the operation of coordinated efforts to find missing people. Gathering Mist is the perfect place to start if you are unfamiliar with her previous novels, and Robo is the most incredible dog ever. Who’s a good boy?

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Review

A Very Woodsy Murder

by Brian Kenney

Hooray for a new series that is fresh and funny, sophisticated and country. Dee Stern has had better years. Her Mom died unexpectedly. Her second marriage went kaput. And her career—she’s a sitcom writer in LA—is petering out. On a drive through the country to escape from it all, she discovers the Golden Motel, a mid-century-modern motel nestled in the foothills of the Sierras. And best of all, it’s FOR SALE. It doesn’t take much for Dee to convince Jeff—husband #1—to join her in this “lifestyle change” and become co-owner of the Golden Motel, Findgold, CA. In no time, they attract their first customer, one Michael Adam Baker who—freakishly enough—Dee knew as a frenemy from the sitcom world. What are the chances of that? Zero to none, it turns out. By the time she discovers what Michael is really up to, it’s too late, and their first guest is also their first victim. Agatha Award-winning author Byron has taken a fascinating community, great characters, the tension between city and country people, and the indomitable Dee to create a high-energy and hilarious series that readers won’t be quick to forget.

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Review

The Whitewashed Tombs

by Henrietta Thornton

This piercingly written tale of modern life in Ghana is preceded by a warning in Quartey’s heartfelt prologue that his novel includes scenes of violence against gay characters and should be approached with “caution and mindfulness.” That’s fair to say, but it must also be noted that the violence is in keeping with the story and not gratuitous, except on the part of the criminals. The effects of white-supremacist missionary work in Africa also loom large in the story, which centers around the murderous homophobia stoked in Ghana by an American evangelical Christian, Chris Cortland. His bigoted ways have brought him to Africa where he finds a home among those who believe that “homosexuality isn’t indigenous to Ghana.” The tale features many well-drawn characters, all presented in an opening character list (don’t be put off by the full to bursting cast here!). They fall into three main groups: trans women who are being murdered, with famous Ghanaian pop singer Henrietta Blay the focus; Emma Djan and the other private investigators who who make this police-procedural-esque, employed because “the police might not give the case high priority”; and the smarmy, self-righteous circle of Americans and Ghanaians around Cortland, whose behavior means the book could also come with a domestic violence warning. The murder mystery is compelling here, but readers will also be absorbed by the politics and religious machinations and the emotional brutality the mixing of the two creates.

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Review

The Rose Arbor

by Brian Kenney

A richly depicted, absolutely haunting, and totally compelling novel from the consummate historical crime novelist Rhys Bowen. It’s 1968, and Liz Houghton is writing obituaries when she really wants to be a reporter. The disappearance of a young girl prompts her to go rogue and take on the investigation—with help from her roommate, Marisa, a police detective. Liz finds echoes of 1968 in the disappearance of three girls during World War II, lost while being evacuated to avoid the bombings. She eventually discovers the village of Tydeham, abandoned since it was taken over by the military during the War. Mysteriously drawn to the village—and with the help of a young man she meets there—Liz begins to make connections between what happened in the past and what lives on in the present. Parentage, great country estates, elderly and vulnerable parents, romance, and young women elbowing their way into the professions are all part of the tale. Perfect for book groups, purchase extra copies.

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Review

Squeaky Clean

by Henrietta Thornton

Davey Burnet’s life is boring, tough drudgery, made no easier by his shame and frustration over having caused a lot of his own problems. He works at a Glasgow car wash where the work is both boring and freezing and the annoying customers bested only the even more draining pothead boss. But Davey wishes for the boredom back when an impulse decision brings a world of trouble down on him and the business. After nouveau-criminal-riche Paulo McGuinn takes to bringing his ostentatious vehicles to be cleaned and Davey “borrows” one of them to make it to a custody hearing for the daughter he desperately wants to see, the car is wrecked and suddenly Paulo is the de facto owner of the car wash and of Davey’s grim future. Paolo’s just-one-of-the-lads bonhomie is a wafer-thin veneer over viciousness; not taken in by it is DI Alison McCoist, whose pecking away at the car wash’s goings on are Davey’s only hope. While this fast-moving tale is dark and has moments of real terror, it’s also grimly hilarious, especially in McSorley’s skewering of Paolo’s inflated self regard. The dialog takes some getting used to, with the character’s thicker than thick Glasgow accents faithfully reproduced, but once readers acclimatize they’re in for a rollicking, satisfying read.

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Review

The Noh Mask Murder

by Willy Williams

First published in 1949 and now elegantly translated into English for the first time, this award-winning atmospheric puzzler by a celebrated author from Japan’s golden age of detective fiction is both an intricate locked-room mystery and a metafictional take on how to write such a crime novel. In the summer of 1946 at a bathing resort, Akimitsu Takagi, a devotee of mystery fiction and an aspiring amateur sleuth, runs into Koichi Yanagi, an old school friend who has just returned to Japan after serving in Burma. Koichi now works for the respected Chizui family, whose members appear to be as cursed as Edgar Allen Poe’s Usher siblings. Ten years earlier, the patriarch, Professor Chizui, died of an apparent heart attack, although Koichi suspects foul play; his wife was institutionalized in an asylum; and recently their daughter also lost her sanity. One night, an eerie figure wearing a demonic hannya Noh mask is spotted in the upstairs window of the Chizui mansion; Taijiro, the professor’s brother, asks Akimitsu to investigate. By the time the sleuth arrives on the scene, Taijiro has been found dead in an armchair in his locked bedroom, with the mask on the floor beside him and the scent of jasmine lingering in the air. When Akimitsu learns that someone has ordered three coffins, he fears that the worst is yet to come. The author cleverly structures his plot like a Russian nesting doll, with one puzzle embedded within another puzzle inside another puzzle, until it is resolved in a surprising and satisfying conclusion. Agatha Christie and S.S. Van Dine fans will enjoy this twisty tale.

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