Arts Listings
JUNE Mystery/Thriller Novels
This month I have eight mystery/thriller novels to recommend.
LITERARY FICTION: The first two novels are so well written that they classify as literary fiction.
(A) French Windows Antoine Laurain (five stars)
A superb psychological thriller set in Paris.
(Published in France as Dangeuresement Douce.)
French Windows features a psychoanalyst, Dr. Faber, and his client Nathalia. She’s a photographer who cannot work because of trauma: she inadvertently photographed a murder. Faber attempts to draw her out by having her write stories about the apartment house residents she sees from her window. A French spin on the classic Hitchcock “Rear Window” setup.
A short novel (175 pp,) that is extremely well written.
(B) Swan Song Elin Hildebrand (five stars)
A cozy mystery set on Nantucket.
This is the 27th, and final, novel in Erin Hildebrand’s “Nantucket” series. It’s a superb beach read.
The summer that police chief Ed Kapernash is due to retire, the social life of Nantucket is disrupted by the arrival of a wealthy couple, the Richardsons. After a series of raucous parties. their 22-million-dollar home burns to the ground, and their personal assistant disappears.
First on the list of positives about “Swan Song” is setting. Erin Hildebrand makes Nantucket come alive. When the novel is finished, the reader feels that they know Nantucket physically and socially. The primary characters are well defined and interesting. The plot is compelling.
A CLASSIC MYSTERY:
(C) Truly Devious Maureen Johnson (five stars)
A fun mystery set in rural Vermont.
A three-book series that follows high-schools student Stevie Bell as she enters a prestigious Vermont private school, Ellingham Academy, with the intent of getting away from her very conservative parents and solving the notorious Ellingham mystery – the 1936 kidnapping of Iris Ellingham and her three-year-old daughter Alice. (The three books are: “Truly Devious,” “the Vanishing Stair,” and “the Hand on the Wall.”)
Maureen Johnson’s novel cleverly combines Steve’s investigation of the 80-year-old mystery with her inquiry into a recent murder at Ellingham Academy. And, for good measure, we read about Stevie’s on again, off again relationship with David Eastman, the son of a presidential candidate.
Warning: You must read all three books to learn whodunnit.
THREE THRILLERS WITH FLAWS:
(D) Very Bad Company Emma Rosenblum (4 stars)
A con thriller set in Miami.
Emma Rosenblum is back with her second novel in a series that might be titled: rich people behaving badly. (The first book, “Bad summer People,” is a mystery set on Fire Island.)
I love the set up: a new executive, Caitlin Levy, joins an innovative tech startup, Aurora, just in time to attend their raucous executive retreat in Miami. The first night, Jessica Radum, the vice-president in charge of partnerships, dies of a drug overdose. Aurora’s CEO, John Shiller, wants to keep the news quiet because it may interfere with the pending acquisition of Aurora by a much larger company. Caitlin receives warnings about Aurora, but the money is so good she chooses to ignore them. So do the other executives: Debra Foley, Olive Green, Martin Ito, Dallas Joy, Nikki Lane, and Zach Wagner. Will the truth about Aurora come out before the big pay day?
A cynical look at the world of high tech.
(E) The Unwedding Ally Condie (4 stars)
A murder mystery set in Big Sur.
To celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary, Ellery Wainwright books a weekend at an exclusive California resort; then her husband announces he wants a divorce. Ellery ends up going alone to Broken Point Resort. Then she realizes that most of the rooms are reserved for a big wedding. Feeling isolated and depressed, Ellery wakes up early the next morning and goes for a swim. In the pool, she finds the body of the bridegroom.
“The Unwedding” doesn’t quite work. What’s good: Ellery is strong and believable. The setting is great, and the plot made more intense when a storm isolates Broken Point. The resort is filled with art that adds panache. Author Ally Condie avoids the cliché of having Ellery find a romantic partner.
What’s not so good: One too many murders. I’m not happy with the ending, which is convoluted and confusing. The use of the resort art is overdone. Ellery’s back story doesn’t work.
An ambitious mystery with flaws.
(F) The Midnight Feast – Lucy Foley (4 stars)
A revenge thriller set at The Manor resort on the Dorset Coast.
A creepy beach read based on a return-to-the-scene-of-the-
Lucy Foley likes to write from multiple points-of-view, but it doesn’t work here. And there’s an underlying class-warfare theme that feels heavy handed.
Enjoyable thriller with flaws.
TWO HISTORICAL MYSTERIES WITH FLAWS:
(G) The Comfort of Ghosts Jacqueline Winspear (4 stars)
A historical mystery set in 1945 England.
“The Comfort of Ghosts” is the 18th and last novel in the Maisie Dobbs series. I’ve enjoyed these books but in recent years they’ve gotten less interesting. In “The Comfort of Ghosts” the mystery energy has diminished; this is primarily a cozy historical novel. There are three mystery episodes: the murder/suicide of a controversial landowner, the fate of four adolescent squatters, and the tracing of a decades-old adoption.
The Maisie Dobbs series began in 1910 with the introduction of Maisie, a precocious thirteen-year-old maid, and ends in 1945, just after the end of WWII. This time span afforded Jacqueline Winspear the opportunity to explore a meaty swath of English history; she does that well. Each of the eighteen novels has some mystery or thriller component, but what distinguishes the series is the meticulous historical detail and the well-crafted relationships that Maisie develops. Winspear found a format that worked for her and used it effectively.
In the past few years, the mystery series most like “Maisie Dobbs” is “Her Majesty the Queen Investigates.” By SJ Bennett. (“The Windsor Knot,” “All the Queen’s Men,” and “Murder Most royal.”) These three novels feature Queen Elizabeth II as a highly sophisticated sleuth. “The Queen Investigates” is also steeped in historical detail. However, a critical difference between the two series is that “the Queen investigates” mysteries are more gripping; that is, each novel is a mystery first and a fictional history second. The Maisie Dobbs series ended by being history first and mystery second.
(H) A Ruse of Shadows – Sherry Thomas (3.5 stars)
A historical mystery set in 19th century London. The 8th Lady Sherlock novel.
Sherry Thomas has reinvented Sherlock Holmes as a smart and passionate young woman. Down on her luck, Charlotte Holmes sets up a London detective consulting business using her imaginary brother, Sherlock. She fools everyone except her longtime friend, Lord Ingram. After a period of tortured adjustment, Charlotte and Ingram become lovers. However, they cannot live together because they are pursued by the evil Moriarity.
I like this series but book 8 is a mess. It has a thin plot that is way too complicated. There are 30 characters in the novel and three overlapping stories. The worst problem is that there’s no suspense.
A disappointing addition to a good series.
Summary: Halfway through the year, the best novel is The Hunter by Tana French, amystery set in a rural Irish village.
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Bob
