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Mystery & Detective

Review

City Under One Roof

by Brian Kenney

How’s this for a setting: a 205 unit high-rise building in rural Alaska that houses the entire town’s population as well as stores, offices, and more. Welcome to Point Mettier, a pretty creepy village to begin with that only gets worse when body parts—a foot, a hand—wash up on the frozen shore. The local cops seem ready to shrug off the remains—lots of tourists fall off those cruise ships!—when they’re joined by Anchorage detective Cara Kennedy, who takes the matter a whole lot more seriously. What was meant to be a quick visit becomes a much longer excursion as the first brutal storm of the season moves in, closing off the tunnel, the one way in and out of town during winter. With time to spare, Cara digs deeper into the community, only to discover that almost everyone in Point Mettier has a secret to hide. A simmering romance with one of the other officers provides Cara with much needed distraction, but soon enough a violent gang, hanging out in a nearby Native village, takes center stage. This is a successful, well-paced first novel that juggles a range of cultures, a handful of strong characters, and a nuanced protagonist, delivering a very satisfying ending. And get this: Point Mettier pretty much actually exists. Check out Whittier, Alaska.

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Review

Blackwater Falls

by Henrietta Thornton

Inaya Rahman is stuck between two worlds. She’s a detective with the Community Response Unit of the Denver police department, which was created after 2020’s protests against police brutality. When she’s called to a horrific scene —a little girl, Razan Elkader, has been murdered and nailed to the door of the mosque where Rahman worships—she knows she can help, but she’s facing her usual problem: “too brown for the badge, too blue for her co-religionists.” She forges on, in private dealing with her family’s worries that the police force is too dangerous and her mother’s fretting that Inaya isn’t married yet. Outside forces are far less gentle: a biker gang affiliated with a local Evangelical church is far from happy that Syrian refugees have settled in the town and none too worried about bringing Razan’s murderer to light. Khan’s (Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty Mysteries, Khoran Archives Fantasy Novels) fast-moving but thoughtful series debut goes far beyond newcomers-vs.-racists tropes to look at real life in a changing town. Rahman is a tough, lovable and often funny protagonist who will appeal to fans of Joanna Schaffhausen’s Annalisa Vega.

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Review

That Summer in Berlin

by Henrietta Thornton

Hopes and fears are nested within secrets and lies in this historical romance/spy novel that moves from English drawing rooms to the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The same fraught layers form the novel, which sees pensive Viviane Alden travel to Germany with her flighty stepsister, Julia, to visit eligible distant acquaintances. The author’s note from Canadian author Cornwall (The Woman at the Front) explains that right up till 1939, intermarriage of English and German aristocracy was encouraged as a way to avoid a repeat of the Great War. The young women are matched with Otto and Felix, sons of the house, who, like Viviane and Julia, show how different siblings can be. Otto is a devoted Nazi who’s rising in the ranks, while his brother, a chemist who flaunts his family’s expectations by working with a Jewish Nobel prize winner, wants none of his brother’s fascist displays. Berlin during Hitler’s reign, and the fawning of international celebrities who thought the dictator a buffoon who’d soon disappear, are chillingly portrayed here. They form an ever more sinister backdrop to Viviane’s clandestine photography of wartime activities in partnership with a dashing journalist/spy. This has an air of Ian McEwan’s Atonement, with its sweeping vistas and wartime romance; fans of the debutante politics of Bridgerton will find intrigue here too.

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Review

Marple: Twelve New Mysteries

by Brian Kenney

A dozen terrifically talented and diverse authors—including Alyssa Cole, Lucy Foley, Val McDermid, and Dreda Say Mitchell—reimagine that most iconic of amateur sleuths: Miss Jane Marple. Billed by the publisher as a way to introduce a new generation to Miss Marple—likely best done by Christie’s books, actually—this collection reads more like fanfiction and is sure to delight Marple enthusiasts, who comprise a great swath of mystery fiction’s readership. Miss Marple is no stranger to the short story, having been first introduced to readers in a 1927 magazine. But here we see her in some extraordinary circumstances, while never losing sight of who she really is. A formal dinner at one of the Oxford colleges descends into sexual harassment and Quaalude popping—to tragic ends. A brief stop-over to visit an old school friend in a country village results in the sort of complex murder we expect only Miss Marple to decipher. When a young woman keels over dead at a wedding, Miss Marple teams up with her Caribbean-born friend, Miss Bella. But not all the stories involve murder; stolen pearls ruin a Christmas dinner, until Miss Marple slowly drops the pieces into place, to the surprise of the other guests. Fun to read in print, this collection would make a great audiobook.

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Review

A Dreadful Splendor

by Brian Kenney

Is it a gothic romance? Yes, indeed. Is it a mystery? That, too. In fact, A Dreadful Splendor uses nearly all the tropes of the gothic, adding a bit of humor to the mix. Genevieve Timmons, all of 19 years old, is a spiritualist, a conjurer, adept at calling forth the dead to assuage the grief of the living—and lining her own pocket. Trained by her mother, who is recently deceased, Genevieve has hit a bad patch and is in jail until she’s approached by a gentleman who wants her to summon the dead bride of his boss, Mr. Pemberton. Except when Genevieve arrives at Somerset Park, Mr. Pemberton’s estate, she discovers that the widower believes his bride was murdered, and he wants Genevieve to stage a session so powerful it will reveal the killer. (As for Mr. Pemberton, he’s one part Mr. Darcy, one part Heathcliff, and one part Maxim de Winter. Brooding and beautiful.) With days to go before the séance, there’s plenty of time for Genevieve to rattle around the estate, research the past, and become terrified of a ghost who may well be the real thing. Lots of fun for readers who enjoy historical mysteries with a double serving of atmosphere.

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Review

The Perfect Crime

by Brian Kenney

An anthology of 22 short stories that are selected to witness, as Maxin Jukubowski writes in the introduction, “an explosion of crime and mystery writing by writers of all colours and ethnic backgrounds, winning awards and enjoying critical acclaim, as well as opening up a whole new readership in the process.” And this marvelous collection certainly doesn’t disappoint, with crime stories from diverse cultures, featuring works by S.A. Cosby, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Rachel Howzell Hall, Sanjida Kay, Walter Mosley, and so many more. It’s fun to encounter authors you think you know trying out something entirely new, such as Abir Mukherjee, who leaves behind 1920s India for a very contemporary tale of crime that ends in a most pleasing way. In fact, many of the stories are full-blown mysteries, just boiled down to their essence, with the shocking, O. Henry-like twists that readers love. Oyinkan Braithwaite’s “Jumping Ship,” a brilliant recounting of a love affair that goes way, way off the rails is so surprising it demands the reader give it a second, or even third, reading. A surefire way to introduce readers to authors, The Perfect Crime is a required purchase for all public libraries.

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Review

The Collector

by Henrietta Thornton

Hancock’s series debut, The Corpse Flower, which featured in this newsletter’s debut, introduced Danish journalist Heloise Kaldan and police officer Erik Schäfer. The somewhat jaded friends don’t work together per se—it’s more that they investigate the same crime in parallel while throwing each other tidbits that help move the case along. Their unusual arrangement swings into gear again when a child goes missing. Lukas Bjerre goes to the same Copenhagen school as Heloise’s friend’s daughter, so the journalist has an in, but that doesn’t make the search any easier. Lukas seems to have simply vanished, with the whole school day having passed before anyone noticed. At the same time, Heloise is going through personal turmoil as she’s unwillingly pregnant, the father “a crummy wolf in permanent press trousers,” according to Schäfer. Adding to Kaldan’s anguish is her inability to remember where she saw a barn that the missing boy might be held in—one that features in Lukas’s collection of photos illustrating his pareidolia, or tendency to see faces in inanimate objects. As the search continues, a suspect’s PTSD forms part of the tale, adding to the feeling that this whole case hinges on mental instability, with the danger to Lukas the one constant in a storm of fear. Kaldan and Schäfer form a realistic and entertaining if gruff duo, one whose work readers will gladly jump into again.

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Review

The Wheel of Doll

by Brian Kenney

This is turning out to be one of the most unique, captivating, and above all emotionally engaging crime fiction series being published. Happy Doll—yes, that’s his real name—is 50-ish, ex-military, and a former LAPD cop who lost his PI license and now calls himself a “security consultant.” Yes, Doll has many of the noirish trappings of your classic LA detective, from his worn-down office to his status as a regular at a dive bar. But he’s also a fledgling Buddhist who’s in love with George, a half-Chihuahua, half-terrier mix, is in psychotherapy, and is incredibly generous to those he comes across—provided they’re not trying to kill him. In this story, Doll is approached by a young woman to search for her mother, Iris Candle, who’s likely to be homeless. Candle and Doll, it turns out, were lovers years ago, and Doll can’t turn down an opportunity to see her again. After a week of searching, Doll finally locates Candle—worn down by drugs and years of living on the streets—and their reunion is one of the most poignant passages I’ve read in years. It also sets off the book’s real narrative, complete with some horrific, but highly entertaining, violence and a quest that brings Doll to the edge. As much as I love Ames’ novels and comic memoirs, Happy Doll is his most innovative and successful character yet. Fans of aged, semi-hard-boiled, humorous Los Angeles detectives will also enjoy Andy Weinberger’s The Kindness of Strangers.

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Review

Abiding Conviction

by Henrietta Thornton

Manchester, NH judge Carlos Garcia is in an unexpected and uncomfortable spot: the defendant’s seat, accused of murdering his wife by adding an overdose of Vicodin to her dinner. In every way, he’s one of lawyer Dutch Francis’s least-favorite clients. The judge is not open to any advice, thinks he still has the upper hand in the courtroom, and is clearly withholding information about his wife’s death. Francis is already thinking he shouldn’t have taken this case when he gets two sharp shocks: his famous newscaster wife, Ginnie—they’ve been married a good five minutes—tells him she’s pregnant and not sure she wants to keep the baby, and, later that day, she goes missing. Francis believes she’s been kidnapped, a suspicion that’s borne out as he begins to receive oddities, such as her fingernail clippings, in the mail. The suspense is in high gear throughout this thriller as we follow the twists and turns of the courtroom drama and the chase when Francis hounds the cops to find his wife, but also joins his legal investigator on their own sometimes-scary bid to rescue Ginnie. A startling ending is in store, and getting there is an enjoyable trip through memorable characters, love-fueled desperation, and the exasperations of the justice system.

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Review

Someone Had to Do It.

by Brian Kenney

Publishers: Wondering how to keep crime fiction relevant, cutting edge, and appealing to younger millennials and older Gen Z? Then take a page out of the impressive debut Someone Had to Do It. Brandi may have landed her dream job unpaid internship at the fashion house Simon Van Doren, but she wasn’t planning on the microaggressions and reminders that as a young, Black woman she doesn’t fit into the culture (“code for we-can’t-handle-your individuality but-since-we-don’t-want-to-seem-racist-we’ll-invent-this little loophole”). But Brandi’s tenacious—she’s also putting herself through fashion school—and with a little help from dreamboat boyfriend Nate, an up-and-coming football star, she manages to hang in there. When Nate offers to put in a good word with Taylor Van Doren, Simon’s daughter—they go back to prep school—Brandi can’t say no. Taylor’s an it-girl, a model and fashionista who has it all and then some. While Brandi hopes that friendship with Taylor will help launch her career, the opposite happens. Taylor—the absolute best villain I’ve read this year—sets Brandi up for a fall where she risks losing everything she’s worked so hard to achieve. This is one smart, hot, bingeable read that’s got Attn: Netflix stamped all over it.

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