New Montana Crime Fiction from C. J. Box, TREASURE STATE

 [Originally published at New York Journal of Books]

“Treasure State is an action-packed page turner, with enough peeks into the minds of the local villains that the threat level to Cassie Dewell rises swiftly. Box, a Wyoming author, clearly enjoys setting up his neighboring state in an irresistible treasure hunt.”

 

The sixth Cassie Dewell investigation from C. J. Box opens with a double death: first a porcupine crushed on the Montana highway, and then a blunt statement that Florida PI J. D. Spengler, making amazing headway on investigating a serial scam artist, is never going to leave the town of Anaconda alive.

 

Spengler’s not yet known to Cassie, however, who’s just wrapped up a neat little insurance job (guaranteed pay), missed catching a prowler in her office, and taken home with her the file for a case she’s working with high cash payments and no name for the man who’d hired her: the Sir Scott’s Treasure case.

 

Box’s plot in this crime novel of endless clever and often amusing twists riffs off one of Montana’s nicknames: not Big Sky Country, but the Treasure State, for all its deposits of gold, silver, copper, even sapphires. Cassie’s well aware of the hunt going on, based on a poem hinting at a major hidden treasure—an anonymous poem that appeared overnight in a noted steakhouse. Has the poet really hidden a fortune for the cleverest clue-solver to find? If he’s really the anonymous client who phoned her, then yes, maybe he has. “I want it to be found legitimately,” he tells her—not through snooping into the author (and hider) himself.

 

But treasure hunts, especially the real ones, generate greed and often death. While bodies pile up on the very public exploration, another call to Cassie’s office suggests a parallel private hunt. The woman who hired the Florida PI needs Cassie to track him down, since he’s vanished after heading into Anaconda.

 

“It’s a real place,” Cassie said. “It’s off the beaten path but I’ve been by there many times. It’s a little less than two hours away from me.”

 

Now this middle-aged PI mentally views her own memories of the famous mining and smelting region, and Box’s signature darkness pokes up through this otherwise easygoing mystery: “Anaconda’s colorful and tragic history. … Anaconda’s past was filled with labor strife, copper mining tragedies, federal occupation, and violence.” And as for the woman who’s hiring Cassie, she’s blunt about why she’s trying to track down not just her vanished PI, but the scam artist he'd been chasing and the seven million dollars he’d conned out of Candyce Fly:

 

“’I want revenge,’ Fly said. ‘I want him to be humiliated like he humiliated me. If I can get my money back, all the better. But most of all, I want him brought down so he can’t do this to another woman in the future.’ Cassie doubted her sincerity on the last one, but it sounded good and she withheld comment.”

Treasure State is an action-packed page turner, with enough peeks into the minds of the local villains that the threat level to Cassie Dewell rises swiftly. Box, a Wyoming author, clearly enjoys setting up his neighboring state in a plot that threads together its mining history, its modern-day industrial power and crime, and an irresistible treasure hunt. When the cases all come clear at last, a highly satisfying conclusion wraps up this rattling good read. 

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

 

New Novel from Paul Theroux, THE BAD ANGEL BROTHERS

 

[Originally published at New York Journal of Books]

“The book’s suspense rests on whether and when Cal will finally turn to face his lifelong attacker. What will he lose, in what sequence? How humiliated and abased will he become? Is there any moment when he can say enough? As it turns out, there may indeed be such a point. And, as the saying goes, what will happen when the worm turns?”

It’s impossible to read a novel by Paul Theroux without thinking of, and even longing for, his unforgettable books of travel, from The Great Railway Bazaar onward. But although The Bad Angel Brothers opens in a small city somewhere in the cluster between southern New Hampshire and Boston, and Cal Belanger’s parents were middle-class Québecois (French Canadian) immigrants, Cal is outward bound as soon as possible. His reason: to make as much space as he can between his daily life and that of his horrible brother Frank, whom he initially labels (only to himself) “a high-functioning ass****.” Not only does Frank invert and manipulate all the stories of the lives of the two brothers—he does it with malice and intent to degrade Cal in as many ways as possible.

Somewhere along the way, mostly through his gentle father, Cal absorbed the message that he should treat his older brother as, well, a brother. But Frank either missed the message or decided bluntly that it only applied in one direction. He’s out to humiliate. And as he reaches maturity, he spreads his malevolent impact over the impoverished clients of his law practice, too.

Through one episode after another, Cal is battered and belittled. He admits the high school nickname for the two of them, the Bad Angel brothers, pins them together in an odd way. In addition, as long as he’s within Frank’s easy reach, he seems helpless to protect himself. So it’s a huge relief to protagonist and reader alike when Cal takes his geological expertise on the road, makes some quiet gold discoveries and a few very good friends, and develops a pattern of travel that includes half the globe, thus putting Theroux’s other side to work in swiftly and evocatively sketching the people and lifeways with which Cal can readily connect. He is actually a nice person. He just seems captive, like the protypical victim of a cobra, unwilling to run.

When Cal’s lovely and adoring Columbian wife insists on living in the New England neighborhood where Cal grew up, in close proximity to Frank, anyone but Cal can tell what will happen next. At first, his brother’s manipulations only make him more grateful for Vita,  the “beautiful woman, to town, alone, innocent, not knowing that Frank was saying with assurance, ‘Vita,’ summoning her for evaluation. The vision made me love her more and vow to protect her; it made me despise Frank.”

After this, the book’s suspense rests on whether and when Cal will finally turn to face his lifelong attacker. What will he lose, in what sequence? How humiliated and abased will he become? Is there any moment when he can say enough? As it turns out, there may indeed be such a point. And, as the saying goes, what will happen when the worm turns?

That’s when The  Bad Angel Brothers becomes crime fiction. And the reader, having maintained connection with Cal this long, may well be hoping some effective violence finally takes place.

Watch the magician’s hands: Theroux has some powerful twists in his hat, and the language and compelling prose with which to offer them into the spotlight. He may yet pull a coin from your ear. Or from Cal’s.

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

Intriguing "Meta" Crime Fiction by Joël Dicker, THE ENIGMA OF ROOM 622

 [Originally published at new York Journal of Books]

“The Enigma of Room 622 can’t be read quickly, but it provides humor and insight throughout the long journey—and many elegant twists of crime and detection, with plenty of surprises.”

Crime fiction often claims love as its own, using it as the most potent motive for murder. Reversing the trope, Joël Dicker offers murder investigation as a balm for unrequited love, in a clever and intriguing novel-within-a-novel tinted with heartbreak, then made far more vivid with flames of desire and threats of harm and loss.

The entire book is a prolonged teasing of the reader. Because it’s turned into an amateur sleuth investigation of blood, fraud, and darkness, there’s no time to push aside the author’s manipulation—instead, in this massive page-turner (577 pages; a good fit for the double novel enclosed!), an author, also named Joël, retreats to a Swiss Alps luxury hotel to lick his wounds from “two small personal traumas”: the death of his mentor, and being forsaken by a woman he’s achingly drawn to.

In the hotel, he discovers a mystery: On the sixth floor, the room numbers go 621, 621a, 623. Where is Room 622? Obviously it’s been re-labeled. Why? What’s the hotel hiding? Joël might not press beyond his wave of curiosity on his own (he’s in 621A, and feels an understandable reluctance to open a box of trouble), but his neighbor on the hotel floor can’t leave this alone. She is Scarlett, a name that at once calls up Scarlett O’Hara of Gone with the Wind, and the “scarlet woman” who’s available and appealing.

She pressed Joël into becoming an accomplice in tracking what took place in the room. Confirming it was a crime scene is simple enough (a little extra tip money to the staff); why does Scarlett then insist that they investigate and solve the unsolved murder? Joël meant his weekend in the hotel to be a break from writing, but Scarlett calls him (due to his slight fame) “the Writer” and tells him this sleuthing will result in his own next book.

Book within book, and now perhaps a third “meta” layer—and all this is revealed in a tone that echoes the great fairy tales of Europe, where magical reality is the norm. Soon the forces within the fiction challenge Joël to decide what Scarlett’s nature is, good and beautiful, or seductive and menacing. Yet even this puzzle is quickly overwhelmed by the discoveries unfolding within the investigation.

For instance, when they go to visit a bank manager to sort out issues related to the murder, the man assumes that the Writer is trying to make the mess public ins ome new book, and is furious and refuses to provide details: “After the murder, the bank had to climb back out of a hole. Our clients were unhappy; the banks was on shaky ground … I’m going to inform my lawyers immediately. I’m warning you, if you persist in this, you’ll never get that book printed.” But when Joël and Scarlett are dumped out of the office, a teller approaches and slips a piece of paper into Scarlett’s hand. A new clue!

The “meta” nature of the story rarely interferes, and the translation from the original French by Robert Bononno is skillful, with only the slightest stilting of language, an aspect that adds to the magical nature of the telling. A final exchange between Joël and Scarlett, before the last threads are drawn together, is revealing:

“Are you heartbroken? Is that why you write?” “Maybe. And you, are you heartbroken?” “Well, if you are, I am as well, since I’m one of your characters.”

The Enigma of Room 622 can’t be read quickly, but it provides humor and insight throughout the long journey—and many elegant twists of crime and detection, with plenty of surprises.

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

New Tuscan Mystery from Camilla Trinchieri, MURDER ON THE VINE

What a pleasure to ride through an Italian crime novel in the hands of a gifted storyteller! Camilla Trinchieri's new addition to the escapades and investigations of widower Nico Doyle, an appreciative American transplant to Tuscany, weaves among the complications of life in the town of Gravigna, when an 80-year-old bartender is murdered and the loves and lusts of several families must be explored to get to the motive of the crime.

Nico is not exactly an amateur sleuth—he worked for the New York Police Department in America, but he has left that career behind and has no official standing in his adopted land. Yet his good friend the local maresciallo (officer) of the carabinieri, Perillo, depends on Nico to add more professional expertise and experience to the local investigation. 

Whether the crime was motivated by love, money, lust, or revenge, Nico is drawn to finding justice for the old man and the people who've loved him, including the lovely Laura Benati, the sorrow-haunted manager of the hotel where the bartender worked for half his life. Under Nico's efforts is a sorrow of his own: He's turned away a woman he's come to love in the town, because he hasn't resolved his issues about his own dead wife and whether he can love again fully. This mystery of life becomes as significant as the one of death he's digging into.

In the long run, rather than forensics, it's Nico's passion for this place and his friends that leads him through the tangled relationships and motivations. His friend Luciana begs Nico to talk to her husband:

"He knows something about the murder," Luciana said. "Ever since we heard about it on the local news last night, he's been odd, fidgety. Usually, he's so quiet I can't even tell he's in the room. After the news, he was picking up things, putting them down again, changing channels every minute. Going to the kitchen, coming back empty-handed. I kept asking him to talk to me. He yelled at me. Nico, he has never yelled at me. The man has always had the patience of a saint. Talk to him. He trusts you."

Smoothly written by a bilingual author and braided with neatly woven clues and red herrings, Murder on the Vine is a delightful transport into community and culture, and provides just enough risk to make the final exposure and wrap-up highly satisfying to all—even to Nico's dog OneWag.

Series readers will appreciate meeting their old friends again; newcomers to Trinchieri's mysteries can slide right into the novel and can catch up on the earlier ones in the series afterward. Published by Soho Crime, an imprint of Soho Press, and just released, in time for enjoyable armchair travel.

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

New Veterinarian Mystery from Eileen Brady, LAST BUT UNLEASHED

What fun to have a new mystery from Eileen Brady, featuring "Dr. Kate" Turner and her busy animal care practice in upstate New York -- and the winter holiday setting of LAST BUT UNLEASHED is a great way to "make friends" with the snowy season ahead of us. After all, there's are plenty of reasons that New Year's Eve parties get wild, and one of them is sure to be the need to warm things up during the shortest days of the year.

For "Dr. Kate" the approach to the end of the year means trying to make a lasting decision about her boyfriend Luke, whose law-school journey has increasingly separated him from caring about her—even for their New Year's Eve date, he's not paying her much attention. In some ways, that's helpful, as Kate gets confirmation that this isn't the relationship she wants. She's actually getting much more affection from her dog ... her team at the veterinary practice ... her steady women friends ... and even the torn-up pitbull dumped on her snowy doorstep.

Unlike in many other "cozy" mysteries, Kate's approach to solving crimes doesn't depend on a close relationship with a police officer (even the local police chief can't make up his mind whether she's helpful or a terrible nuisance). But every now and then, like after the murder of an "organize-your-house" pro when Kate's found the body, she feels the need to give some extra invitation and calls Chief Garcia:

"Did I tell you I spoke to the janitor?"

"Yes. We've already interviewed him. He confirmed your statement." Now the chief sounded as if I'd interrupted his nap.

"Did I tell you about seeing the other janitor cleaning one of the meeting rooms? All I saw was their back, so it slipped my mind."

 ... "Do you remember anything about this other janitor? Height? Build? Did you catch a look at his face or even his profile?" Garcia asked in an urgent way.

I reminded him the whole thing was over in four or five seconds. "I'm not even sure it was a man. Why not interview them yourself?"

"Because, Dr. Turner, the community center only employs one janitor. That second person you saw might be the murderer."

After that, though, Kate keeps her observations to herself and her close friends—which of course is why she eventually needs to borrow an attack-trained Rottweiler to spend the night.

Brady is a pro, pacing her chapters briskly and weaving in the frustrations of adult romance with the puzzles of perpetrators. Although the book runs long for this subgenre -- about 400 pages -- all the threads come together for a very satisfying set of endings. Put this one on the winter TBR list, and pick up an extra for any dog-loving fellow reader. (The only non-charismatic critter in the whole story is an iguana.)

Note for those who always look at the author's website: Brady's is seriously out of date. Meanwhile, though, Poisoned Pen Press is doing a great job re-igniting her delightful series.

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

Brief Mention: Laurie R. King, BACK TO THE GARDEN

If you've been asking yourself whether the communes of the 1970s really were what you recall (or reall learning)--passionate about freedom, love, and justice, as well as drenched in music and hormones and surviving on the strength of good gardening and skilled planning--the new crime novel from Laurie R. King will be deeply reassuring!

Sidelined police inspector Raquel Laing tackles identifying a set of bones discovered at a long-ago California commune, now a serious historic and art attraction. She's racing the clock, because the suspected killer (highly psychopathic) is close to death and playing games with not revealing the names of the (gasp) seventeen women he admits to have slaughtered and buried in the state.

Readers will either love or hate King's choice of alternating time periods between the commune's heyday and Laing's investigation. I found it tolerable, for the sake of the acute insight into "those days" and the fervent beliefs that impelled decisions and lifestyles. The police procedural aspect of the novel, as Laing interviews one commune leader after another, reflects what a long and often unrewarding process this can be in real life. But Laing's own passions and her skills in reading emotions, lies, and truths are fascinating and highly believable. 

King has described this as a standalone. If so, that's a shame -- Laing as an investigator, with her quirks and questions, would make a great foundation for an enjoyable series, and King is expert at crafting long-term pathways of detective work and personal growth. She's accessible via social media; if you feel the same way after reading BACK TO THE GARDEN, drop her a note to encourage a sequel (I will).

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