2021 Book Reviews

2021 Reviews

Our reviews section examines the latest mystery offerings, covering books, anthologies, audio books, and DVDs.

THE CLEANER

By Mark Dawson

London: Welbeck, 2021. $24.95

 

In this 2021 rerelease of Mark Dawson’s The Cleaner, originally published in 2013, John Milton is a black ops assassin, working for MI5. His latest mission goes badly awry, leaving a dead cop and, worse still from the point of view of his superiors, a living witness in the form of a young child he cannot bring himself to kill. Milton, MI5’s best and most able killer, refuses to continue and walks away from a job no one leaves.

 

So far, so (slightly) James Bond. While the experienced reader of secret-agent thrillers will be able to fill in the rest of the plot, The Cleaner is a great deal more than a secret-agent-gone-rogue narrative.

After leaving HQ, where he has delivered the unwelcome news, Milton witnesses a drama in the Underground. A woman has tried to commit suicide by throwing herself onto the line in front of a train. Milton saves her and finds himself drawn into her story of life on a “sink estate” (council housing) and her despair as her teenage son, Elijah, is drawn into the street gangs that plague the poorer areas of London.

Against the background of the London riots of 2011, Milton’s struggle to gain Elijah’s trust and to free him from the coils of gang life drives a great deal of the narrative. To a teenager of Elijah’s background—black, poor, with little interest in school or academic achievement—the gangs offer social status, respect, money, and a future. What Elijah and most of his peers don’t realize is that the future, for most of them, will be jail or death on the streets before they reach the age of twenty.

 

Milton immerses himself in the street life of the city on his mission to save Elijah. This is not the fast-moving thriller that the opening chapter and the blurb seem to suggest. It is an absorbing and multilayered story of deprivation, courage, and a form of redemption when the forces of good and evil battle it out for Elijah’s life and future—his soul, if you like. Dawson recreates the world of the London street gangs—the drugs, the money, the violence, and the danger—and peoples it with vivid and arresting characters: Pops, the gang leader who has become disillusioned with gang life; Risky Bizness, the rapper and charismatic sociopath; Rutherford, the ex-alcoholic who has established a boxing gym and tries to draw young men away from gang life. The author also portrays life in one of London’s many sink estates with both depth and realism.

 

The subplot about the agent sent out in pursuit of Milton becomes peripheral to the engaging narrative involving Milton’s slow discovery of the realities of street life and the unfolding details of the world inhabited by Elijah and his peers. Dawson creates a vivid, lively, yet dark and threatening world in which a young person can easily get lost forever.

 

The occasional clunky bits occur when readers find themself briefly in lurid romance territory, as Dawson gives us Milton’s “icy blue” eyes and a mouth with a “cruel twist.” There is also an unnecessary information dump quite early on, when Milton’s boss at MI5 goes through Milton’s folder—a device for giving the reader a quick history.

 

Those who are looking for a fast-moving shoot-’em-up will be disappointed, because The Cleaner is, in fact, far more. It is a book that explores a world that is alien to most people—a book that will stay with you long after you have finished it. Highly recommended.

 

—Danuta Reah

 

THE FAMILY PLOT

By Megan Collins

New York: Atria, 2021. $27.00

 

If you haven’t yet heard the name Megan Collins, you may want to take note. A longtime poet and managing editor at 3Elements Review whose work has appeared in print and online journals, she is also a suspense novelist. Her books—2019’s The Winter Sister and last year’s Behind the Red Door—have earned critical acclaim and an enthusiastic, growing readership. This summer, she returns with a highly anticipated third book, The Family Plot, which will appeal to mystery fans and true-crime buffs alike.

As the story opens, twenty-six-year-old Dahlia Lighthouse is summoned back to her childhood home—“Murder Mansion,” as the locals call it—following her father’s death. It’s the first time she’s returned to the isolated Blackburn Island estate in nearly a decade. Adulthood allowed her the freedom to escape her unorthodox upbringing and the terrible aftermath of her twin brother (and best friend) Andy’s disappearance on his sixteenth birthday. But when the burial space is dug up in preparation for the interment of her father, Daniel Lighthouse, there’s already a body in the family plot: Andy’s, his head long ago caved in by an ax. While Dahlia has devoted her life to searching for her brother, she now assumes Andy was killed by a serial predator known as the Blackburn Killer, who was active in the area when Andy disappeared. Despite intense police and public scrutiny of the serial killings, the case went cold and the perpetrator inexplicably dormant—though the Lighthouses remained a source of curiosity and suspicion.

Andy’s tragic, violent death leads Dahlia on a quest for truth that calls into question everything she thought she knew about her peculiar family. Her parents raised their children on a homeschool curriculum dedicated to studying true crime, and they named Dahlia, Andy, and their two other equally inseparable children after infamous real-life murder victims. And the paths her remaining siblings and her mother take in the wake of discovering Andy’s body further highlight her family’s eccentricities.

Collins limits her perspective to first-person present tense to tell the story. Not only does this heighten the immediacy of events as they unfold, but it also underscores Dahlia’s sense of emotional and physical isolation and controls the lens through which she—and thereby we—view things. Her paranoia, then, could be entirely well-founded or just that, paranoia. The black sheep of her family, Dahlia is distrusting of everybody—including brother Charlie, who intends to commemorate the occasion with a Lighthouse Memorial Museum open house, and sister Tate, who immortalizes crime victims (including Andy) in intricate dioramas that she posts to Instagram. As “Murder Mansion” prepares to open its doors to outsiders for the very first time, Dahlia fears both what they’re letting in and what they may be letting out. Consequently, the (family) plot thickens.

 

Collins has been steadily on the rise since making her fiction debut, and The Family Plot marks her strongest, most assured effort yet. While the book’s premise is undeniably intriguing, there’s a depth that elevates the story beyond tantalizing taglines and appeal to “murderinos.” Indeed, for all its true-crime and pop-culture savvy, there’s also a sensitive, sophisticated subtext about manifestations of grief, expressions of individuality, and honoring one’s family and one’s self. You may grab this one for the gambit, but you’ll be grabbed by its gravitas in return.

 

—John B. Valeri

 

 

I AM NOT WHO YOU THINK I AM

By Eric Rickstad

Ashland, OR: Blackstone, 2021. $25.99

 

Bestselling author Eric Rickstad has been MIA since his last book, What Remains of Her, was published in 2018. Prior to that, the Vermonter debuted with Reap (2000), a New York Times Notable Novel, and then wrote the three-entry Canaan Crime Series—The Silent Girls (2014), Lie in Wait (2015), and The Names of Dead Girls (2017). Now Rickstad returns with a new standalone novel, I Am Not Who You Think I Am.

 

Shireburne, Vermont, 1976. It was a simpler time. When the school nurse can’t reach eight-year-old Wayland Maynard’s mother—always home at lunchtime watching her favorite soap opera—she lets the boy walk home, expecting the short stroll to be uneventful. And it is, until Wayland reaches the driveway, where he finds his father’s truck still running, driver’s-side door open, and radio on. Wondering why his dad is home and his mother isn’t, he wanders into the house and up to his parents’ bedroom, where his father is sitting on the bed, shotgun in hand. Boom. Next thing Wayland knows, all that’s left of his father is a body, face obliterated, and a note that reads: I am not who you think I am.

 

Eight years later. Still haunted by what he witnessed—and still smarting at his mom for having eradicated nearly every trace of his dad from their home, except for the books he salvaged (and a revolver)—Wayland comes to the determination that it wasn’t his father who killed himself that day. Beyond the belief that suicide was completely out of character for his father, Wayland has a vivid recollection of the man’s feet dangling off the bed but not reaching the floor—which is incongruous with his father’s height. Convinced that his mother has been harboring secrets (just where was she that fateful afternoon?), Wayland begins his own investigation, which turns up Shireburne’s scandals and secrets. He finds an unlikely ally in his crush, Juliette, while his well-meaning, testosterone-fueled best friend, Clay, both bolsters and bedevils him.

Rickstad’s story is more than myriad mysteries concerning a seeming suicide, a fiery inferno, and a small town haunted by a powerful and enigmatic family; it’s also a coming-of-age tale about a lonely, misunderstood boy who has grown up in the shadow of tragedy—the darkness of which threatens to envelop him and destroy what few relationships he has. The author taps into Wayland’s angst, his insecurities, and his barely contained rage with razorlike precision, cutting deep and exposing the human frailties that lie just under the surface. Presented as a manuscript penned with the intention of setting the record straight, the narrative is a cogent reminder that the search for truth requires a willingness to look inward as well as elsewhere, and then to accept the totality of the findings, no matter how inconvenient or incriminating.

 

I Am Not Who You Think I Am is a triumphant return for Rickstad, who continues to write chillingly original stories that are grounded in equal parts action and emotion. A cautionary tale about family, friendship, and fallibility, it serves to remind us that nobody is all good or all bad, but everybody is human—and thereby susceptible to the consequences of their (our) intentions. When the last page has been turned, there is but one conclusion: Nothing is what you thought it would be.

 

—John B. Valeri

MURDER AT BEAULIEU ABBEY

By Cassandra Clark

London: Severn House, 2021. $28.99

 

Murder at Beaulieu Abbey is the eleventh in Cassandra Clark’s Abbess of Meaux series of medieval mysteries set in the late fourteenth century. In this latest novel, Sister Hildegard is sent by her prioress ostensibly to escort twelve-year-old Elowen, heiress and daughter of a Cornish nobleman from Beaulieu Abbey to Swyne in the north of England, near the manor of the girl’s future husband, the nine-year-old son of Sir William de Hutton.

 

However, Hildegarde’s real mission is far more important than merely accompanying a twelve-year-old girl. The religious turmoil of the time has led to the western schism in which the papacy is caught in conflict between Rome and Avignon. Hildegard is tasked with finding out if, after the death of their abbot, the monks of Beaulieu are moving from supporting Pope Boniface in Rome to supporting the French ally, the anti-pope Clement. While Hildegard is reluctant to take this on—she has the care of her own nuns and has no wish to travel—the prioress insists, and Hildegard sets off, accompanied by two monks, Egbert and Gregory.

 

But her task is thrown into turmoil when Elowen, left briefly alone as she steps from her ship onto dry land, carrying a casket of gold, is kidnapped and vanishes. Hildegard’s job now is to find her young charge and bring her safely back. Although initially Hildegarde feels very much up to the task, since the nature of the surroundings of Beaulieu Abbey means that Elowen’s kidnappers must be lying low somewhere with her on the abbey land, she later realizes she is dealing with wild and dangerous territory, inhabited by wild and dangerous men.

 

Why is Willian de Hutton, residing at Beaulieu Abbey on business, apparently so indifferent to the fate of his future daughter-in-law? What role might the felons who live in the grounds of the abbey have played in the abduction? What is the significance of Black Harry, a criminal who was dragged away in chains and hanged? And who is the mysterious man living in the forest and apparently deeply involved in the kidnapping of Elowen? When the search for Elowen leads to murder, Hildegard realizes that she might have taken on more than she can handle, even with the able support of her two monks.

 

Hildegard finds herself drawn to the forest-dwelling stranger, which is hardly surprising as she has been drawn to similarly dashing types in previous books in the series, though so far, she has held to her vows of chastity—even when faced with the temptations of the attractive Hubert de Courcy, abbot of Meaux. The will-they-won’t-they relationship between the two is an ongoing thread that runs through the series.

Clark deftly twists and turns this complex narrative so that, like Hildegard, her readers will think they have come upon the solution, only to find that they are wrong once again, and the dénouement, when it is finally revealed, is very surprising.

 

One of the best qualities of the series is that it does not deal with fantasy medievalism. Clark does an excellent job of portraying the nature of the period—a countryside that, far from being covered with waymarked paths, is wild and dangerous; a society in which urgent communication can travel only at the speed of the fastest horse or ship; a world in which allegiances of politics, of family, of religion, are complex and convoluted and in which treachery plays a big part. Hildegard is believable as an independent and self-confident woman. The life of a nun may seem very limited to a twenty-first-century audience, but the convent may well have been an attractive option in a world of arranged marriages and unrelenting childbirth. A prioress or an abbess had real power and autonomy within her sphere, and the religious life probably offered more to a well-born woman than marriage did.

 

Although nuances of character development and relationships may be missed by those who haven’t read the previous ten books in the series, this novel can be enjoyed as a stand-alone.

 

This is an excellent addition to a popular series. Fans will be delighted, and new readers have a treat in store.

 

—Danuta Reah

 

THE SACRIFICE OF LESTER YATES

 

By Robin Yocum

New York: Arcade CrimeWise, 2021. $25.99

I started this book having never heard of its author, Robin Yocum, and not even knowing what subgenre The Sacrifice of Lester Yates would fall into. I received the ebook file from my editor and decided to take a look. And I am very glad I did.

 

Narrated in first person by Ohio Attorney General Hutchinson “Hutch” Van Buren, the novel kicks off when a prison guard brings him a startling jail-yard revelation about the potential innocence of a convicted heinous serial killer known as the Egypt Valley Strangler (Lester Yates) due to be executed in two months.

 

The more Hutch looks into the case, the dirtier the whole thing looks. Add to that the fact that killing an innocent man would derail the ambitions of Ohio governor and presidential front-runner “Big Jim” Wilinski, who has promised to make Hutch the U.S. attorney general if he wins the White House. Was Lester’s arrest and conviction a matter of convenience for an ambitious but incompetent sheriff? Or is something more sinister afoot? If Hutch doesn’t unravel the mystery in time, an innocent man will die, a killer will go free, and the truth will become a political time bomb for all involved.

 

Yocum’s scenes featuring the clever and witty banter between Hutch and his bulldog of an assistant, Margaret, are an excellent example of how authors can use well-crafted dialogue to make a huge impact on character development. His deft use of dialogue throughout the novel fully fleshes out the characters and their relationships—warts and all.

 

The novel is peppered with other excellent standout characters, including the governor’s power-hungry weasel of a chief of staff; a twenty-five-year-old intern who quickly proves her investigative chops while humorously grating against the generational and cultural divide with Hutch’s rural roots; a slimy former sheriff who rode political loyalty and his capture of the Egypt Valley Strangler to helm the state’s top law-enforcement agency; Van Buren’s former campaign manager and ex-lover, whom he still hasn’t gotten over; and Van Buren’s hard-driving, hard-drinking, power-lifting chief investigator, who manages to transcend stereotypes and become one of the most endearing members of the cast. Even characters who are only given one scene have deep and creative backstories that serve to make the entire cast feel real and dynamic.

 

The mystery itself is a wide-ranging journey through the forgotten coal country of eastern Ohio, into the halls of power and the political machinations of Columbus, and across borders to neighboring states and beyond. The ticking clock counting down toward Lester’s execution is ever-present, ratcheting up the tension, as is the political tightrope Van Buren must walk to preserve his own political future as campaign season begins to heat up. While seasoned mystery readers will likely be able to guess the big twist before the book’s midpoint, watching it play out will still be a delight.

 

The Sacrifice of Lester Yates is a compelling mystery populated by some of the most interesting characters I’ve met all year. The political, geographic, and socioeconomic landscape of eastern Ohio is richly realized, as are the secrets hidden in those hills. Yocum has an avid new fan in me. Highly recommended.

 

—Jeremy Burns

 

SOMEONE WHO ISN’T ME

By Danuta Kot

London: Simon & Schuster, 2021. $14.28

 

It’s a real-life mystery why U.K. author Danuta Kot (aka Danuta Reah/Carla Banks) isn’t yet a mainstream discovery in America. As Reah/Banks, she has published seven novels, won the CWA Short Story Dagger in 2005, and was short-listed for the CWA Dagger in the Library in 2006. As Kot, she is the author of two suspense novels that draw upon her work with Yorkshire youth following the industrial decline: Life Ruins (2019) and this year’s Someone Who Isn’t Me.

“Andy Yeatson was twenty-four, and he was becoming more and more certain that he was going to die.” Kot’s latest begins with this premonition of death, promptly fulfilled when Yeatson finds himself at the end of a blade and is then abandoned in a desolate English village known as Sunk Island. A police officer and single father, he had been working undercover at the behest of his supervisor, Detective Sergeant Mark Curwen, to infiltrate a drug ring believed to be operating out of a local pub, known as the Smokehouse. This was a largely secretive assignment, given that a previous raid on the business turned out to be a bust—and not the good kind.

 

Enter Becca Armitage, a money-strapped bartender at the Smokehouse. She had befriended Yeatson—who introduced himself as a private investigator (not a cop)—and was helping him surveil the pub’s owner and clientele. A flirtation ensued, though he went off the grid before things could progress. After his body is discovered, Becca reluctantly agrees to assist the authorities in their inquiry. She then vacillates between trust and trepidation (a familiar dilemma, given her background), and is also torn between the two officers vying for her cooperation: Curwen and young Detective Constable Dinah Mason. Becca’s hope is that the task will help to quell doubts about Yeatson, but the deeper her involvement, the greater the risk of being made as an informant—and of being made to pay.

Meanwhile, Kay McKinnon—Becca’s recently widowed foster mother—has taken up temporary residence at a rental property on Sunk Island. The isolation is at first appealing, but strange disturbances in the night and signs of a break-in soon result in a sense of foreboding. Kay works at Tania House, a Hull-based charity supporting young drug users, but she’s recently taken over a vacated caseload, and people have slipped through the cracks, making recidivism an even more probable outcome. Her frustrations are further compounded by an awareness that Becca is struggling yet won’t accept help (beyond the occasional monetary gift). What neither woman realizes, however, is that they’ve stumbled into shared treacherous territory.

 

Kot uses multiple third-person points of view from all the aforementioned cast members to tell her story, nimbly shifting perspectives while building multitudes of tensions. This allows the author to reveal each character’s unique motivations; personal or professional struggles; redemptive qualities; and knowledge of, or suspicions about, the crimes at hand. Their individual experiences and impressions begin to form a complete, intentionally convoluted picture for the reader, even as the players themselves remain largely unaware of the collision course on which they’ve been operating. The stakes, then, are both high and heartrending, and the suspense is unrelenting.

 

Someone Who Isn’t Me is, at its core, an exploration of the human condition—its complexities, its frailties, its ultimate resilience or resignation. The author shines light on a broken system and the equally broken people who inhabit it, some of whom are fortunate enough to have the resources necessary to pick up the pieces and put themselves back together. The most memorable mysteries are often the ones that realistically contemplate crime, cause, and consequence, and while Kot may not have all the answers to the societal problems that plague her plots, she dares to ask big questions, which emboldens us to do the same.

 

—John B. Valeri

THE THREE LOCKS

By Bonnie MacBird

London: Collins Crime Club, 2021. $26.99

 

The Three Locks is Bonnie MacBird’s fourth novel continuing the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.  It’s largely successful, with some twisty mysteries, some colorful settings, and clever details.

As the book opens, London is suffering from a terrible heat wave, but crime doesn’t take time off due to the weather. MacBird’s plot in The Three Locks is constructed of three separate story lines connected thematically but involving different cases and crimes. One focuses on Watson’s backstory, another centers on the twisted personal life of an illusionist and his wife, and a third is based on the dysfunctional family of a Cambridge don.

 

The best of the narratives is the tale of the illusionist, who specializes in innovative escapology, driven by the brilliant inventions of his wife. It’s clever and exciting, and leaves the reader wondering who will be the victim, who will be the perpetrator, and how the incredible illusion of survival after being boiled in a copper cauldron works. It’s atmospheric, with fascinating characters, and I thoroughly enjoyed the story line.

 

The plot where Watson receives a little box that he cannot open is extremely intriguing, and the scene with a sinister locksmith who asks for eyebrow-raising prices in exchange for his skills is a clever tie-in to one of Holmes’s most famous mysteries. This is by far the best scene of the book, as not only does it succeed as worldbuilding and utilize a callback to brilliant effect, it also highlights the friendship between the two men, showing the level of moral support that Holmes is willing to provide Watson without a trace of sappiness. The underplayed moment is an example of fantastic writing.

The ending of that particular story, when the contents of Watson’s box are revealed, leaves readers wanting more, paving the way for MacBird’s next novel. Unfortunately, the unresolved questions make The Three Locks less of an emotionally self-contained narrative than it could have been.

The third story line involves a damaged family, a young woman with multiple fiancés and unknown motives, and tensions that lead to a mysterious death. The most interesting plot point—a menacing institution that women can be thrown into for no reason other than being out at night unaccompanied—deserves to be the center of its own book.

 

A welcome supplement to the book is the annotations that illustrate the historical research and attention to detail that MacBird put into the story, found on her website, macbird.com/the-three-locks/notes/. As of this writing, the annotations are incomplete, with additional chapters to be added in the future.

The Three Locks is definitely worth a look for fans of continuations of the Holmes mythos, and I’m eager to see where MacBird will take the legendary pair in future books.

 

—Chris Chan

LOST LITTLE GIRL

By Gregory Stout

Olney, MD: Level Best Books, 2021. $16.95

Lost Little Girl is an example of a private investigator novel done right. It doesn’t try to reinvent the genre, nor is there anything especially unique about it. Which makes it quite unique, and a nice change from the formulaic PI novels being published today—interchangeable PIs with ridiculously similar backgrounds, flaws, and weaknesses and plots covered in gritty cynicism and tawdriness, like ketchup slathered on greasy fast food.

Jackson Gamble is indeed a jaded PI (like some of the best in the genre), but unlike so many modern-day fictional PIs with their nihilism and violent streaks, Gamble is someone you’d want to have a conversation with. His romantic interest is similarly likable, and his first-person narration, if not innovative, is certainly readable and interesting thanks to Gregory Stout’s excellent writing. Even when the characters cover well-trod ground, his prose is fresh enough to keep the pages turning.

As the story opens, a worried mother comes to Gamble after her teenage daughter goes missing, which leads Gamble into the seediest, most unsavory regions of the Nashville area. Gamble’s not optimistic. He knows that even if he finds her, she won’t be the same. The experiences that most runaways and kidnapped girls endure scar them so severely that their lives can never be what they once were.

While the main characters are complex and fleshed out, some of the supporting characters fall into the expected stereotypes, which ultimately makes their fates predictable. If you’ve read enough PI novels, you’ll know how certain members of the missing girl’s family will be treated, how they will respond in certain situations, and how they will affect those around them.

It’s the journey that makes the book, however, and I found Gamble to be an interesting character who was well worth my time. I look forward to reading about his future investigations.

—Chris Chan

 

 

BASIL’S WAR

A WWII SPY THRILLER

By Stephen Hunter

New York: Mysterious Press, 2021. $23.95

FINDING TESSA

By Jaime Lynn Hendricks

New York: Scarlet, 2021. $25.95

THE LAST COMMANDMENT

By Scott Shepherd

New York: Mysterious Press, 2021. $25.95

These three new books from Mysterious Press and Scarlet, offer three different approaches to the thriller—a wartime tale of espionage, a domestic noir with a twist, and a hunt for a serial killer. All are entertaining reads.

Basil’s War by Stephen Hunter is an enthusiastic romp through the brighter aspects of World War II espionage, as the title character, who enjoys the company of famous women and alcoholic beverages, has to track down a clue that may be vital to breaking a seemingly impenetrable code. Every chapter is fun and often breezy, moving from adventure to adventure with a bunch of cameo appearances by actual historical figures. It’s pleasant and closer to some of the James Bond movies with Sean Connery or Roger Moore than the grittier spy tales of John le Carré. One minor complaint is the ending, which feels a bit rushed, but otherwise it’s a terrific diversion.

Jaime Lynn Hendricks’s Finding Tessa is clearly inspired by Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl (2012), starting with the same basic premise. The story alternates between the perspectives of a husband and wife. The wife vanishes suddenly, and the husband is the primary suspect. For the first third of the book, the narrative is predictable and uninvolving, as the husband seems to blunder around and the wife describes her horrific upbringing and her chain of devastating relationships with abusive men. It’s rough going at first, as the characters aren’t particularly likable or involving, but I kept going, noticing the carefully chosen language and expecting a big twist.

As the second third of Finding Tessa begins, the anticipated major reveal flips the script, and from that point forward, I found one of the major characters way more interesting, and the narrative started to get a lot more engaging. It’s a solidly crafted thriller, with particularly shrewd language choices in the early chapters. Readers who are familiar with the genre will likely predict all the major twists and turns, as I did, but the expected “surprises” are well delivered, and it’s a very competent debut novel.

In The Last Commandment by Scott Shepherd, a Scotland Yard inspector a few weeks away from retirement comes up against a serial killer who numbers his victims. An observation by someone close to the inspector leads to the realization that each victim has broken one of the Ten Commandments, and he has to try to save the lives of seven more potential victims.

It’s a good thriller that cuts between scenes like a briskly edited movie, and it’s very effective entertainment despite a few problems. The first is that although they’re enjoyable, some of the major plot twists will be predictable for the experienced reader of thrillers. Also, there are some errors regarding the phrasing and order of the Ten Commandments. The way Catholics, most Protestants, and Jews phrase and order them is, in fact, distinct to each faith; this book seems to confuse all that. The third problem is the relationship between the Scotland Yard inspector and his daughter. They’re estranged at first, and one of the major themes of the book is the repairing of that relationship, but the reasons for the estrangement, revealed late in the book, are unconvincing. Nevertheless, it’s an entertaining book, and I enjoyed most of it.

Mystery fans will find all three of these novels worthwhile.

—Chris Chan

THE UNCOMMON CASE OF DANIEL BROWN

HOW A WHITE POLICE OFFICER WAS CONVICTED OF KILLING A BLACK CITIZEN, BALTIMORE, 1875

By Gordon H. Shufelt

Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2021. $24.95

COLD WAR SECRETS

A VANISHED PROFESSOR, A SUSPECTED KILLER,

AND HOOVER’S FBI

By Eileen Welsome

Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2021. $24.95

THE EAST RIVER RIPPER

THE MYSTERIOUS 1891 MURDER OF OLD SHAKESPEARE

By George R. Dekle Sr.

Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2021. $24.95

QUEEN OF THE CON

FROM A SPIRITUALIST TO THE CARNEGIE IMPOSTER

By Thomas Crowl

Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2021. $24.95

Kent State University Press has been publishing some of the most interesting historical true-crime stories in recent years. Some of these cases dominated the headlines nationwide; others were simply nine-day wonders in small towns and rapidly faded into obscurity. The publisher’s True Crime History series has done marvelous work in identifying little-known tales that ought to be better known, most of which offer powerful insights into issues of race, gender, class, and politics. Over the past year, Kent State University Press has released four interesting and revealing books that look at ethnicity, law enforcement, the press, and public opinion in America’s past in fascinating and complex ways.

The Uncommon Case of Daniel Brown by Gordon H. Shufelt is the story of a case of police brutality that took an atypical path. Patrick McDonald was a policeman who viciously killed Daniel Brown, a Black man who had committed no crime. At a time when comparable attacks were perpetrated with no punishment for those who harmed innocent African Americans, McDonald was eventually arrested and convicted of manslaughter after a public outcry pushed the case forward, though there were additional twists to the story long after the verdict.

Shufelt’s narrative is bound to enrage many readers, as it’s a tale of injustice and racism deeply entrenched in a society where acts of lethal violence could be committed with impunity against certain citizens. It’s a compelling look at what it takes to stir up outrage in the community, as well as an unsettling depiction of how easy it is for the systems of power to maintain the status quo. Shufelt doesn’t hesitate to draw parallels to contemporary events, which sometimes leads to overstressing an obvious point, though his zeal to stress certain lessons is understandable.

Cold War Secrets by Eileen Welsome is the story of Thomas Riha, a Czech-born academic who vanished one day. The authorities insisted that this was a voluntary disappearance spurred by his domestic unhappiness. Welsome argues that Riha was murdered by a mysterious and unstable woman named Galya Tannenbaum, and the story becomes a cautionary tale of how the FBI and the CIA could be manipulated and deceived.

The details are simultaneously too over-the-top to believe and also have the ring of truth. It’s a comedy of errors, with a central figure who may be a madwoman and who may be a manipulative genius. It’s unsettling to think how once a powerful government agency is sure of something, those who work for it feel honor-bound to stick with that preconception, as a reversal might mean losing face. Welsome’s detective work is convincing, especially her observation of some telling spelling errors, and yet it still seems possible that Welsome’s solution is not correct. The narrative she creates is so bizarrely fascinating that the reader certainly wants it to be true.

The East River Ripper by George R. Dekle Sr. takes place not long after Scotland Yard had egg on its face for failing to capture Jack the Ripper. Thomas Byrnes, chief of detectives for the NYPD, scoffed at his colleagues across the Atlantic, until an ominous communication made him fear that that the serial killer was visiting New York City. Carrie Brown, a prostitute who went by the name of “Old Shakespeare,” was brutally slain, and Byrnes’s reputation rested on finding the killer. After a prolonged investigation, Amir Ben Ali of Algeria was charged with the crime and eventually convicted. The press proclaimed this a miscarriage of justice, and a decade of protests led to Ben Ali’s release. Soon after he was set free, however, a reexamination of the case led many authorities to believe that they’d had the right man all along.

The East River Ripper is intriguing because it could be telling two very different stories. It could be a tale of investigative incompetence, driven by lazy, politically motivated bureaucrats. Alternatively, it might be about dedicated and determined professionals who uncovered the truth with a great deal of effort. The arrest of Ben Ali might have been fueled by racism and false preconceptions, or it could have been the fair pursuit of a guilty man. The personal opinions of readers are bound to shape how they interpret this Rorschach test of a crime, and by the end, when Dekle reveals what he believes really happened, some readers will feel vindicated, and others will be shocked or possibly indignant.

Finally, Queen of the Con by Thomas Crowl is the story of Cassie Chadwick, a smooth talker who worked as a medium and as a madam, cheating banks and getting caught and marrying her way into respectability. It was not until she claimed to be Andrew Carnegie’s illegitimate daughter, however, that she latched onto her most lucrative scheme, convincing numerous institutions to lend her considerable sums on her supposed father’s credit. In the end, she managed to pocket $2 million before the law caught up with her.

Queen of the Con explores what happens when people are too ready to believe what they want to hear. Everybody can be fooled under certain circumstances, and the Chadwick case illustrates both how influential men routinely underestimate women and how people are conditioned to believe something that’s untrue if the liar repeats it loudly and forcefully enough.

Increasingly, true-crime history is becoming one of the most important subgenres of the field. The snapshots of American life and culture are both disturbing and inspiring, as they illustrate both what has gone wrong and how decent and intelligent people can put things right. All of these histories are not only insightful but highly entertaining as well.

—Chris Chan

 

AGAINST THE LAW: A Joe the Bouncer Novel

By David Gordon

New York: Mysterious Press, 2021. $25.95

BLACK ICE

By Carin Gerhardsen, translated from the Swedish by Ian Giles

New York: Scarlet, 2021. $25.95

NIGHT, NEON: Tales of Mystery and Suspense

By Joyce Carol Oates

New York: Mysterious Press, 2021. $25.95

Recent releases from Mysterious Press and from Scarlet include the third in a series of books about the civilian adventures of a former Special Forces agent, a complex Scandinoir that jumps between times and perspectives, and an anthology of short stories. All of these works cover some of the darkest aspects of human nature though from quite different perspectives.

Against the Law is the third in David Gordon’s Joe the Bouncer series. Joe is a former military man eking out a living guarding a strip club and doing favors for underworld figures. One of his closest friends is a mob boss who has some deeply hidden secrets in his private life, which could derail his marriage to a woman with whom he’s desperate to reconcile. This latest case centers around Joe’s attempts to prevent the fallout from an influx of drugs. Against the Law is an effective action story, though at times it seems that Joe needs to adjust the trajectory of his life and alliances.

Swedish author Carin Gerhardsen’s translated work Black Ice (not to be confused with several other novels with the same title) is a book where nothing should be taken at face value. It starts with a snowy car accident and zips back and forth through time to tell a story of destructive adultery, an abandoned man left to die, favors that eventually bring about unintended consequences, and someone who is willing to commit murder in order to keep secrets buried in the snow. A quarter of the way through the book, the discerning reader ought to figure out that nothing should be accepted unless it’s expressly spelled out and that many scenes are crafted to create the impression that one thing happened or a particular person did something when, in fact, as revealed a few chapters later, something entirely different happened or someone else was involved. It’s a challenging novel, requiring the reader to double back and reread chapters to determine what just happened. Nevertheless, the sometimes bleak read is definitely worth it.

In Joyce Carol Oates’s anthology Night, Neon, most of the stories are connected to a crime, though the levels of mystery and suspense vary dramatically. Arguably, the best and most haunting is the first, “Detour,” a tale of a woman trapped in a scary situation, which takes on a deeper and more lasting resonance once the reader experiences the “aha!” moment and sees what’s really happening. Some of the stories have only a tangential connection to mystery, such as “Miss Golden Dreams 1949,” about an unusual auction item. It’s an odd tale, drawing on a previous Oates topic, which suffers a bit because it doesn’t seem to grasp what really drives men’s fantasies. “Parole Hearing, California Institution for Women, Chino Ca” is a fictional look at the thinking of a real-life convicted killer. I thought the story—or perhaps it’s a prose poem—was a skillful character profile, but the wordcraft couldn’t help me shake the feeling that the character was nothing like the real person.

All three of these books are worth a look for readers who are interested in works that bend and play with the standard conventions of the genre.

—Chris Chan

 

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S GOLDEN AGE

Volume 2: Miss Marple

and the Other Golden Age Puzzles

By John Goddard

Wimbledon, UK: Stylish Eye Press, 2021. $68.99 ($18.99 paperback)

A little more than two years ago, I reviewed John Goddard’s terrific book Agatha Christie’s Golden Age: An Analysis of Poirot’s Golden Age Puzzles (2018). It’s a fantastic, thoughtful analysis of the Hercule Poirot novels from Christie’s debut of 1920, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, through World War II. Now, in the second volume of what will likely be a trilogy, Goddard covers Christie’s novels from that era that do not feature Poirot. (The anticipated final volume, currently titled Agatha Christie’s Modern Age, will likely cover all of Christie’s remaining crime novels, unless there’s a change of plans.)

As with the first volume, this book is full of spoilers, and chapters should only be read if one is familiar with the novel in question. This is therefore a seminal work for Christie fans, but, as I noted in my earlier review, it should also be a textbook for aspiring crime writers who seek to learn how to polish plots and arrange clever clues in order to create effective fair play mysteries. All too often, when reading books by less skillful writers or watching sloppy adaptations of Christie’s work, it’s blatantly obvious that the authors or screenwriters simply don’t grasp the basics of structuring a well-crafted mystery. It’s analogous to a surgeon who gained knowledge of the human body from Pablo Picasso’s paintings rather than Gray’s Anatomy. Goddard’s work is a welcome antidote to sloppy understandings of mystery craftsmanship.

The book concisely summarizes each novel, explains the solution, and then lists and evaluates the clueing and plotting. Goddard’s work shows keen attention to the mysteries, close reading of seeming throwaways that are actually filled with critical clues, and a fair scrutiny of potential plot holes. (Goddard’s skepticism over whether or not a key can be turned in an old-fashioned lock from the other side with pincers is understandable, but I can assure readers through personal experimentation that such a method of locking and unlocking is completely plausible and easy, given the right kind of lock and the appropriate tool.)

The early Miss Marple novels—The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), The Body in the Library (1942), and The Moving Finger (1943)—are included, as are the first two Tommy and Tuppence tales (from 1922 and 1941), the early “thrillers” (which are less tightly plotted and clued), and the nonseries mysteries such as Murder Is Easy (1939), And Then There Were None (1939), and Towards Zero (1944). Goddard’s analyses of And Then There Were None and Towards Zero are particularly good, as he perceives how carefully Christie set up misdirection and simultaneously obscured the identities of her killers while marking a clear path for the discerning reader to identify the villains.

In the interests of full disclosure, I should point out that I have corresponded with Goddard in the past, and he has included in this book’s endnotes my information about some late-twentieth-century U.S. editions of Towards Zero missing a closing line whose absence adds an unnerving note to the final conversation between two characters.

Goddard’s work is highly recommended for Christie fans and scholars of classic mysteries.

Chris Chan

DEFENDING JACOB

Paramount, 2021. $25.99 DVD, $34.99 Blu-ray

(Some oblique spoilers follow.)

Based on the terrific bestselling 2013 novel by William Landay, Defending Jacob is the story of a family both torn apart and bound together by a shocking accusation. As the eight-part miniseries opens, Andy and Laurie Barber (Chris Evans and Michelle Dockery) are living the dream. Andy’s an assistant district attorney, Laurie works for a prominent charity, and they live in a very nice house in a Boston suburb that’s supposed to be safe and peaceful. Everything crumbles—as so often happens in stories like this—when a teenage boy is murdered and Andy and Laurie’s young son, Jacob (Jaeden Martell), is charged with the crime. Suspended from his job and ostracized by the community, Andy launches his own investigation into the crime, fighting off hostile neighbors, an aggressive press, the justice system he once worked for, the dark secrets of his past, and Laurie’s own doubts about Jacob’s innocence. As the story progresses, it’s hard to tell which of the last two problems will prove more injurious to the Barbers.

The miniseries is just about the right length, with the narrative rarely dragging. The show is about 80 percent faithful to the book, and for the most part, the changes don’t harm the production. First and most notable is the characterization of Jacob, who in the book was more frequently portrayed as a “bad seed” but might have simply been a troubled kid rather than a killer. Martell’s portrayal of the title character often seems like a kid completely out of his depth, possibly on the autism spectrum, definitely more scared than malicious. Two characters—a police investigator and Jacob’s defense lawyer—have been gender-swapped and, in the former case, race-swapped. Betty Gabriel is very good as the detective, Pam Duffy, and Cherry Jones is the series’ co-MVP as defense attorney Joanna Klein. The other brightest star of the cast is J. K. Simmons as Andy’s estranged father—one of the few actors around who can play both amiable and menacing in an equally convincing way. Aside from a few additional storylines to flesh out the personal lives of the central characters, the other big change from the book is the ending. The fates of some of the central characters have been changed, and the final moments are more hopeful and less bleak than in the novel. Some viewers have found the level of ambiguity disappointing, but that’s true to the book as well.

When I watched the first episode, something seemed off about the viewing experience, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until a little while later. The sets, particularly the Barber home, seemed more like model homes than places where actual people lived. The gray tones and squareness were reminiscent of Apple stores (Could this be related to the fact that the series streamed on Apple TV+ ?), and the teenagers’ bedrooms are immaculate, unlike almost any adolescent boy’s bedroom in America. When the victim’s bedroom is supposedly left just as it was when he died, it adds an ersatz tarnish to what’s supposed to be a devastating moment for the dead kid’s father. I know that the seeming perfectness of the Barber home is supposed to stand in contrast to the coming months of devastation to their personal lives, but when the house feels like a set, it distracts from everything else.

For a mystery, limiting Defending Jacob’s pool of suspects may not have been the best choice. In the book, the only real suspects with a motive are Jacob, a local pedophile, and a third character who is never seriously considered as a suspect, leading savvy readers to expect a big reveal at the end, only to have their suspicions remain unaddressed. In the adaptation, the third, overlooked suspect is briefly targeted but is never really cleared, and the fact that Andy drops this investigative thread seems odd. Ultimately, the series focuses more on characterization and mental strain than whodunit, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

In the end, the absence of certainty and catharsis makes the show feel rather incomplete, even though the lack of a solid ending is totally realistic. It just goes to show how certain conventions can enhance the viewing experience. Nevertheless, Defending Jacob is well acted, well paced, and overall a very fine viewing experience.

—Chris Chan

 

DOWN RANGE

By Taylor Moore

New York: William Morrow, 2021. $27.99

Grizzled paramilitary types are everywhere in thrillers these days, and it can be extremely difficult for an author to break out with a new hero of that archetype. Yet Taylor Moore, a former CIA officer and sixth-generation Texan, has managed to do just that with protagonist Garrett Kohl in his debut novel, Down Range, a unique book that combines the heart and grit of classic westerns with the action and suspense of modern thrillers, all set amid the harsh beauty and isolation of the Texas Panhandle.

Moore opens the novel with an action-packed sequence that perfectly captures his protagonist’s combat prowess, temerity, and compassion. DEA officer Kohl is attempting to prevent a massacre in Afghanistan. In the process, he manages to rescue a ten-year-old boy named Asadi and ignite a powder keg of potential controversy since his actions weren’t sanctioned. As penance, he is commissioned to protect Asadi—the only official witness to the massacre that could bring down a rogue warlord angling for power. Eschewing the proffered CIA safe houses for the babysitting duty, he opts to conduct the assignment on his own turf, the High Plains of the Texas Panhandle.

But there’s trouble brewing there as well. A conspiracy involving oil barons and drug cartels threatens not only his mission but also those he loves most. Garrett’s hotshot lawyer brother, Bridger, the golden boy of the family, is faced with losing everything and everyone as his dealings with the biggest oil outfit in town bring him into the crosshairs of some very bad guys. In a town dependent on oil money, with old enemies still lurking in the shadows, Garrett must figure out whom he can trust before it’s too late. Garrett is also working to restore his relationships with family members after an old spat between him and Bridger threatened to break them apart. Amidst all this drama, he finds himself more and more interested in a former schoolmate, Lacey Capshaw, who eventually proves to be a key player in the action.

Moore peppers the book with a diverse cast of nuanced, realistic, and well-drawn characters, such as Preston Kaiser, the wealthy heir to the oil fortunes of the region; Bo Clevenger, Garrett’s schoolyard nemesis, who has now taken his bullying to a whole new level; Deputy Tony Sanchez, Garrett’s childhood best friend, who may have questionable loyalties; combat chopper pilot turned bar owner Ike Hodges; Garrett’s eighth-grade daughters, who prove fearless in the face of considerable adversity; and a pair of acrimonious cartel enforcers, one of whom may have a hidden agenda of his own. The only downside is that with so many excellent side characters, some of them don’t get quite as much “screen time” as readers might like, though this could be laying the foundation for further development in sequels.

The chapters from Asadi’s point of view are adeptly rendered. Moore does a great job here of balancing Asadi’s language barrier while highlighting his unique plight and the events that are unfolding. As a child rescued from a war-torn area, he is obviously a sympathetic character, but Moore makes sure he finds his courage in some terrifying predicaments—a move that will surprise readers. Meanwhile, Asadi’s boyish wonder and eager enthusiasm bring Garrett’s father, Butch, out of his lonely-old-man shell, and Garrett himself quickly warms to the boy beyond his initial feelings of professional responsibility.

The beautiful but often hostile and isolated setting of the book echoes the Wyoming of C. J. Box’s Joe Pickett series, though with its own, more western-feeling spin. Moore’s compelling depictions of the Texas High Plains geography, people, culture, and weather are delivered with an authenticity that clearly shows how intimately familiar he is with the region. He makes the Panhandle feel alive and bristling with genuine detail, without dragging things out with exposition. The book is also paced excellently. Moore knows how to turn up the tension at just the right moments, with expert use of cross-cutting and well-balanced action scenes driving the story along, all with a skill belying the fact that this is Moore’s first novel. With a great twist that brings everything together and an explosive climax, the book earns its thriller chops several times over.

Down Range is a stellar debut. From the gunplay and horse riding to the scenery and varied cast of characters, everything feels authentic and fresh, and I can’t wait to see what adventures Moore cooks up for Garrett and company next.

—Jeremy Burns

 

 

SHOOTING SCRIPT

AND OTHER MYSTERIES

By William Link and Richard Levinson

Cincinnati: Crippen and Landru, 2021. $22.00

William Link (1933–2020) and Richard Levinson (1934–1987) are best known for their work in television. They wrote a number of classic crime shows such as Columbo, Mannix, and Murder, She Wrote, as well as several classic television movies. While nearly all mystery fans have at least a passing acquaintance with one of their shows, their short fiction is less well known. The mid-twentieth century was a boom time for crime short stories, with many magazines publishing a wide variety of creative tales, but unfortunately, lots of wonderful stories never got anthologized, and plenty of terrific mysteries were lost to general readership.

Fortunately, Crippen and Landru has just released an anthology featuring some of the writing team’s best short stories between 1954 and 1966. Most of these are quite short, about ten pages each. A lot of the stories have a twist at the end, with a final paragraph or line that flips the narrative in an unexpected direction. A seemingly benign figure turns out to be a malevolent villain. A sudden twist of fate leaves someone with the opportunity to commit the perfect crime. And presaging Columbo, sometimes a killer plots the perfect murder, only to be undone at the end by an unexpected turn of events.

The story that served as the genesis for Columbo is included in this collection. This tale was the inspiration for the Chevy Mystery Show episode “Enough Rope,” which eventually became the stage play Prescription: Murder, before reaching its ultimate incarnation as the pilot episode of Columbo. The ending and its twist are much different in the short story—indeed, the short story is really just Prescription: Murder’s first act with a different ending.

In the anthology’s introduction, authors such as Ellery Queen and G. K. Chesterton are cited as inspirations for Levinson and Link. This is particularly evident in two stories that take Chesterton’s famous Father Brown tale “The Invisible Man” and put a new spin on Chesterton’s insightful and influential solution.

Shooting Script and Other Mysteries is a must-read for fans of Link and Levinson’s television shows, as it provides a wonderful look into the development of their greatest creations. Fans of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Tales of the Unexpected will also enjoy these twisty tales.

—Chris Chan

 

BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN

 Warner Bros., 2021. $24.98 (Part One)/$22.98 (Part Two) Blu-ray

The superhero and mystery genres rarely overlap, but one superhero is often dubbed “The World’s Greatest Detective”: Batman. The Long Halloween is one of the most famous and respected Batman comic serials, with 13 issues focusing on a yearlong crime spree in which a serial killer targets individuals connected to the Gotham City criminal underworld, striking once a month, always on a holiday. The 1996–1997 comic by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale is widely regarded as a classic (and was a major influence on the 2008 movie The Dark Knight). A quarter-century after its release, The Long Halloween has been adapted into a two-part, three-hour direct-to-Blu-ray animated production.

 

The “hunt for a serial killer” is one of the most hit-or-miss branches of the crime genre. When these stories are well written, they can be masterpieces, or at least highly entertaining diversions. When less-skilled hands are involved, the result is usually a muddle of clichés.

 

The Long Halloween is a competent and enjoyable production, and it’s quite overt about its homages to The Godfather (1972) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). In terms of the Batman mythos, it’s part of the arc that shows Batman realizing just what kind of superhero he needs to be as Gotham City is starting to change from a corrupt city run by organized crime into a corrupt city overwhelmed by deranged and disorganized supervillains.

 

As the story unfolds, most of Batman’s famous foes take center stage at various points, the best scenes being the ones featuring the Joker and the incarcerated date-obsessed villain known as Calendar Man. The central emotional linchpin of the narrative comes from the slow unraveling of the crusading district attorney Harvey Dent, as his mental state devolves.

 

Fans of the graphic novel will find that the narrative is about 80 percent true to the original. The iconic, atmospheric art style of the comic could not be transferred easily into animation, and the February, March, and April crimes are glossed over early in Part Two. Other than a few minor changes here and there, the biggest difference involves the ending. Animated adaptations of DC Comics mysteries have a habit of changing the identity of the killer, causing mixed reactions amongst fans. The Long Halloween is infamous for providing two separate solutions to the crime, leaving readers to wonder and debate which is the correct one. The animated adaptation chooses only one of the solutions, with an added twist to personalize the motive. Those viewers familiar with the source material may find the resolution somewhat simplified, but it’s a fun and satisfying production overall.

 

The clues to the mystery at the heart of The Long Halloween are deftly scattered throughout the production. Perceptive viewers will find that certain lines of dialogue that at first blush seem inconsequential will have added resonance once all the pieces are tied together. And the film’s pacing as the city descends into chaos is handled equally well.

 

The voice work is uniformly strong, with moments that approach genuine poignancy and could have had actual emotional heft with a little more effort. Some themes, like Harvey Dent’s unraveling, could have been developed a little more, though the growing relationship between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle is handled well. Pretty much everything about The Long Halloween is good, but a little bit of striving to be something more could have made it great.

 

—Chris Chan

 

 

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