Nerve-Wracking Thriller from Katie Lattari, DARK THINGS I ADORE

The point of Audra Colfax's long seduction of her thesis professor, Max Durant, is clearly announced from the start of DARK THINGS I ADORE: She's going to make him pay.

But what he owes will only be revealed through a long, slow fan dance of characters at a long-ago summer camp for artists, the Lupine Valley Arts Collective. And if you're thinking those pretty flowers when you read the word "lupine," Audra's carefully staged punitive drama should remind you that the word has another and very different meaning.

Laced with the power exertions of manipulative professors over students, of great artists over hopeless ones, and of sadists over the mentally and emotionally vulnerable, Audra in DARK THINGS I ADORE constructs a hunt-and-prey situation that calls to mind "The Most Dangerous Game" over and over. Who's the hunter here, and who will take mortal wounds—Audra, Max, or one of the others from their linked pasts? As Audra confides:

My voice is gentle and maybe mildly flirtatious. I let him have it. This gift. A bit of the wolfishness from before creeps back into the lines of this face, the glint of his teeth. I relax. There he is. The predator I'm fully prepared to face.

The tension never lets up. This is Katie Lattari's debut thriller, but she's no neophyte in the writing world. And if the motives may not perfectly match the crimes involved—without the obvious psychopathic thru-lines of, say, a Hannibal Lector—this is a tightly paced and well spun work of suspense, promising more from the author in deeper development.

The book will release September 14, from Sourcebooks. Leave the light on, and lock the doors.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Brief Mention: Summer Thrillers from Jule Selbo and Ashley Winstead

Portland, Maine, already home and home-away-from-home to several stellar mystery and crime fiction authors, has acquired a new one: Jule Selbo, a rambling screenwriter determined to enter the genre. With 10 DAYS, released earlier this month from Pandamoon, she's launched a police-trained sleuth who's clearly destined for series appearances. 

Set on the Maine coast, including islands and boats, the mystery pits Dee Rommel and her PI godfather Gordy Greer against the manipulations and hidden crimes of a family of tech inventors specializing in valuable artificial intelligence solutions. Dee's line-of-work injury has landed her with a prosthetic leg and a big chip on her shoulder. She's still got good friends ... but she's reached the point where comfort and congeniality, instead of cheering her up, can send her into a depressive tailspin. That makes her hunt for missing AI heiress and scientist Lucy Claren edgy and perilous, and Selbo spins an excellent crime novel with unflinching pace.

* 

Are you facing a dreaded high school or college reunion? IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE by Ashley Winstead, the debut from this Houston writer, could keep you from agreeing to attend. Which might be a good thing, really.

Jessica Miller's been planning a triumphant return to her elite Southern college for the 10-year reunion. She's shaped herself into the stylish and high-flying success that she wants her former buddies to admire and respect. But she'd built this on the grounds of a college disaster: a death in the circle of friends, and a long-simmering doubt about who's responsible.

As the title suggests, this is a thriller, laced with betrayal and risk. The author plays more than fair with red herrings and clues, resulting in a pace that's perhaps a bit too predictable; the first-person style is unusual for this kind of crime novel, and raises the tension. Love a good nail-biter? Try this one, from Sourcebooks.

* 

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Soviets and Night Witches Link With Billy Boyle, in ROAD OF BONES from James R. Benn

You could spend weeks, months, a lifetime, reading your way through the evidence of what happened during the Second World War.  And sorting out heroes and villains.

Or instead, you could trust the kindness of author James R. Benn, who unearths unusual details of the war that enchant and inform, while investigator Billy Boyle pursues crime on behalf of the American forces. Blunt-spoken as this Boston Irish detective can be, he's also dedicated to supporting his friends and allies, and this 16th Billy Boyle World War II Mystery is another "keeper" for solid enjoyment and excitement.

After an exhilarating opening chapter in which Billy fills in on a bombing run in a B-17 Flying Fortress (Benn makes it easy to slipstream names and terminology in mid scene), the point of his new mission -- partnered with "Big Mike, aka Staff Sergeant Miecznikowksi -- is an Office of Special Investigations order that the team sort out a double murder at an airbase ... in Russia. More specifically, it's at an air base in Ukraine, part of a plan Billy recalls: "Take off from England, land and refuel in Russia, then hit the Germans again on the way back."

With the Russian allies blaming the Americans and sure the murderer must be a "Yank," immediate action is called for -- Billy and Mike need to identify the real murderer(s) to avoid a devastating international incident. And just to make things a bit more challenging, they'll need to collaborate with a Russian cop to smooth things over.

If that only meant the attractive and American-enchanted Lieutenant Maiya Akilina, life would be good. But complications pile up swiftly: Big Mike's transport abandoned him where he's likely to end up in a prison camp, and Billy's got to locate and retrieve his partner. Worse yet, the Russian colleague assigned is Captain Kiril Sidorov, and Billy already knows him from a London experience soaked in treachery in several directions.

"My homecoming was not as I expected," Sidorov said, a sigh escaping between his lips. "I have been in a labor camp in Kolyma. ... Little food, very cold, long hours. Many prisoners die there. Because of the frozen ground, the authorities decreed that interments be made in the roadbed as it is dug. Much more practical. Hence, road of bones."

"Why did they send you there?" I asked. I had a pretty good idea, but it seemed like Sidorov wasn't aware of the role I'd played. Otherwise, he'd be at my windpipe right now.

As the murder investigation reveals a drug component and potential inventory crime, Billy (and, he hopes, Big Mike) must watch their backs in every direction. 

Special interest in ROAD OF BONES comes from collaboration with a little-remembered group of women aviators on the Russian side, the Night Witches -- once again, author James R. Benn dips into details of the historical war and finds intrigue and adventure. Adding personalities (and charming figures) to these female heroes is par for the course in this crimesolving series, lightening the interactions among the investigators and adding charm and amazement to what might otherwise be a very male-focused plot line.

Memorable twists to the action include seeing a Russian officer demoted from NKVD status to prisoner (delicately sketched with much sorrow), and wrestling with an alliance that puts the Americans at risk of Russian betrayal. For instance, is it better for the Russians at the base to assume that Billy's been shot down in the midst of action? Billy admits, "They may think I'm already dead. It may be easier to let them think so a while longer." His host congratulates him on learning to think like a Russian: "There is an old saying. 'Close to the Tsar, close to death.'" For Billy, "it made perfect sense, God help me."

Series fans know that at least Billy is likely to survive the action, whether imprisoned or not. But the risks to his friends multiply, there's endless confusion about who's an enemy and how, and it doesn't just take the rewards of crime to produce lies and betrayal in wartime. 

This lively series makes for great reading. No need to read the other titles before this one, but there's plenty of incentive to pull more onto the TBR shelf afterward, to enjoy a gifted storyteller and a full deck of unusual historical details.

ROAD OF BONES releases on September 7, from Soho Crime, an imprint of Soho Press.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Indelible Darkness: THE HOUSE OF ASHES by Stuart Neville

In a fierce and powerful twist away from his crime fiction that roots in Ireland's "Troubles," Stuart Neville's September 7 release THE HOUSE OF ASHES (Soho Crime) is a stand-alone stirring the tides of domestic violence. Narrated in two time periods -- a dread-saturated present-day one of Sara Keane, newly arrived in Northern Ireland with an abusive and criminal husband (and his much more frightening father), and a set of multiple murder recollections from 60 years back, in the mind of the elderly Mary Jackson, more or less incarcerated in a "care" home -- this hardboiled thriller paints a shattering image of how absolute power becomes absolute control. Of life, itself.

More than the actual plot, the power of THE HOUSE OF ASHES comes from its blunt revelation of men's potential brutality. It's hard to connect this to the politically scented preceding Neville novels: There's nothing in either Sara's abusers (vintage mob-style dominators) or Mary's (three men who treat women as rape-able animals and kill of their babies) that can be tied directly to the emotional trauma of Irish life. Except one morsel, delivered early in the book through Sara's eyes:

[Sara] had met Damien at the University of Bath, he a postgrad architecture student, she in her second year of studying for a social work degree. She would never have imagined, even after they married, that she would come to live in the place he never ever called Northern Ireland. Always the North, the North of Ireland, sometimes the Six Counties, but never Northern Ireland. As if to speak its name would shame him.

Their move to a house that Damien's father has purchased and rebuilt for them—from a fire-struck wreck—is supposed to be a fresh start, removing Sara from the place where she'd had a breakdown and installing Damien as an architect in his father's property development firm.

But the arrival of a confused elderly woman at the house shatters Sara's preoccupation with staying obedient and blind, and as Mary Jackson's background becomes clear, Sara can't close her eyes to her own situation.

This is a work of psychological horror, drenched in blood, death, and sexual abuse. Perhaps only Stuart Neville could bend the arc of narrative in such a way as to make the story compelling. The terrors revealed and persisting match the book against such classics as Silence of the Lambs, but Neville leaves open the possibility that either Sara or Mary may escape the surrounding real-life nightmare.

It would be comforting to think that this fictional version is a wild exaggeration of abuse that doesn't actually take place in real life. Unfortunately, despite the persisting paranormal threads that are so classically Neville's, this crime novel makes real situations violently present and unforgettable. Read at your own risk ... but trust that the author also knows what impels survival and escape.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Second in Camilla Trinchieri's Tuscany Series, THE BITTER TASTE OF MURDER

[Originally published at New York Journal of Books]

 

“Similar in pace and tenderness to the Ladies’ Detective Agency mysteries of Alexander McCall Smith, this mystery fits neatly into the traditional mold, providing an enjoyable read that’s intensely place-based and engaging.”

It’s no secret that Nico Doyle is a former New York City homicide detective. But his new life in the small town of Gravigna, in the Chianti hills of Tuscany, Italy, isn’t supposed to involve his old skills—he’s even mostly now accepted by the locals (The Bitter Taste of Murder is book 2 in Camilla Trinchieri’s new series). Comfortable with a routine of small restaurants and working friends, he’s “employed” as a full-time volunteer at a restaurant owned by his in-laws. Sure, he’s still mourning his wife Rita, and taking flowers to her nearby grave. But in a lot of other ways, life has re-started for him.

If only his friends were simply—friends! Salvatore Perillo, mareschiallo (marshal) of the carabinieri, enjoys cycling, visiting with Nico—and, as needed, pulling him into crime investigation. As Gogol, a very old man who’s a regular at the breakfast “bar” quips to Perillo, “You were Nico’s Virgil through last year’s journey into hell, or perhaps he was yours. Whichever it is, friends of Nico are welcome today.”

The mareschiallo’s presence in Gravigna this time involves a visit to town of a famous critic of Italian Wines, Michele Mantelli, who is “said to have the power to make or ruin a new vintage.” Soon Mantelli’s murder shakes up the community, and when it’s revealed that Nico’s friends Aldo and Cynzia had been threatened with a bad review for their wines, Nico can’t help caring.

“Did Mantelli truly have the power to bankrupt Aldo? And why did he want to? What was Cinzia and Mantelli’s relationship? … If Mantelli ruined Aldo’s business, he would ruin Cinzia too. None of it made sense, and it was none of his business, but Nico felt for Aldo.”

So when Mantelli turns up dead in a car accident, there’s some relief—until it’s clear that the wine critic had died before his car went off the road. And it’s looking like a convenient death for several others, too, including the wife Mantelli was about to divorce and perhaps even his current lover. The only way Nico can be sure his friends will be safe from suspicion is to accept Perillo’s invitation into the active investigation.

Luscious descriptions of food, vineyards, vistas, and Nico’s sweet small-town life make this mystery highly enjoyable as summer reading:

“[Nico] was bent over a baking sheet, tamping down small mounds of grated Parmigiano into flat rounds with the back of a spoon. … Each fritella, once roasted, was carefully lifted with a spatula and just as carefully added to a tray and sprinkled with chopped chives.” At the same time, Nico’s “boss” Tilde prepared “Yellow pepper stuffed with rice, sausage meat, onion, pecorino and tomato sauce.” The book’s kitchen prose enriches all the action!

So do the entangled threads of friendship, affection, and community that confirm Nico’s made the right choice to take up retirement (well, at least he’s only a crime-solving volunteer!) in his late wife’s home town. The Bitter Taste of Murder is the second in Trinchieri’s series, and makes it clear that her studies in both film and creative writing have paid off. (She has eight mysteries published under a pseudonym as well.) Similar in pace and tenderness to the Ladies’ Detective Agency mysteries of Alexander McCall Smith, this mystery fits neatly into the traditional mold, providing an enjoyable read that’s intensely place-based and engaging.

Outstanding Swedish Crime Novel from Peter Mohlin and Peter Nyström (Overlook Press)

 

[Originally published at New York Journal of Books]

“Layered and lethal … The only thing better than the pleasure of this suspenseful and tightly plotted “Scandi noir” investigation is knowing there’s a sequel on the way.”

FBI fan? Witness protection reader? Scandinavian noir collector? The Bucket List, first in a new Swedish series of “Agent John Adderley” crime fiction, satisfies all these enthusiasms at once, in a stunning debut that’s layered and lethal.

Authors Mohlin and Nyström bring both journalism and screenwriting skills to this intense and unusually long first effort. FBI agent John Adderley, wrapping up an undercover stint to break up an international drug ring, knows he’ll never go back to his old life afterward, and that’s fine. Until, that is, he gets a packet from his long-estranged and dying mother in Sweden, calling him to investigate a cold-case murder being blamed on his half brother, whom he hasn’t seen since he was 12. Deliberately breaking the witness protection rules after the trial’s over, he head to his home town of Karlstad to dig for the truth, no matter the cost.

At first, chapters alternate with the earlier time of disappearance of Emilie Bjurwall, college-age heiress to a clothing empire, as seen through her father Heimar’s eyes. If Emilie is a rebel, her dad is a defeated misfit, resigned to being the eye-candy husband of his powerful wife, whose family owns the company. He’s the complete opposite of John Adderley, whose ability to plan and instant commitment to action should mean a great record in crime-solving—but backfire as he misleads his own team.

Then the action increases in pace, and drives directly through until the unexpected and impressive finale, based on John’s own deadly choice:

“John felt his palms go clammy, as Ruben continued. ‘I’ve not spoken to the boss yet. I wanted to find out what the situation was myself—see whether you were going to make contact with your brother and leak details of the investigation. But so far, all you seem to have done is drive by the house—so I’m willing to give you a chance to tell Primer yourself. He doesn’t have to know about our conversation here. With a little luck, he won’t throw you off the case. But it might also end in immediate dismissal and an internal investigation for gross professional misconduct.’

‘I realize this is going to have professional consequences,’ said John. ‘But the most important thing is that my true identity doesn’t get out. You have to understand that there are people out there who want nothing more than to see me dead.’ …

His colleague started the engine—a clear sign the conversation was over.

‘I’ll give you until the end of the week,’ he said. ‘If you haven’t told Primer who you are by then, I will.’”

Boosted by smooth and deft translation by Ian Giles, The Bucket List—the title refers to a mysterious tattoo on the arm of the missing-presumed-murdered heiress—weaves in lively side episodes of passion and pretense. Adderley’s unethical mother and brother make everything tougher. And whether the international syndicate will catch up with him before the crime’s actually solved means the pressure of that ticking clock never lets up.

The book’s already taken a debut novel award in Sweden (“Crimetime Award”) and merits more. The only thing better than the pleasure of this suspenseful and tightly plotted “Scandi noir” investigation is knowing there’s a sequel on the way.