North-Woods Crime, Cold Case Frame-Ups, and Easy Humor from Tamara Berry, ON SPINE OF DEATH

Considering how tough life on a desert island can be, adding Tamara Berry's engaging mysteries to the packing list seems very wise—from the nicely complex characters to the neat plotting to the clues and chuckles, these are books that lift the gray out of the day (or winter, or desert isle).

ON SPINE OF DEATH (a play on the phrase "on pain of death" but otherwise an irrelevant title for this recipe-free cozy) is the second adventure tucked into "Winthrop, Washington" (the timberlands in the east of the state) featuring bestselling author Tess Harrow. The series title is By the Book Mysteries -- especially apt this time, since the skeletons found in Tess's inherited hardware shop seem to match those in a mysteriously authored book that's turned up in the town: Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, by Simone Peaky, a nom de plume that even Tess's resources fail to match with a real person. 

There's less urgency to locate the author of this tell-all at first, since the skeletons are obviously from cold cases ("disappearances") in the little town. But when Tess figures out that the book is also giving burial details for the local sheriff's vanished sister, the pressure is on. Not only does Tess want to solve all three cases ... she's got to do it quickly, because the devastated sheriff is also a man she cares deeply about. (How deeply? One-way or two-way? That too is a mystery.)

"It makes sense," she said quietly. She didn't let go of his hand even though it sat like a cold, dead weight in hers. "You know it does. ... Your sister's case matches every aspect of it."

The deeper she gets into the investigation, the more the local ne'er-do-wells (woods crime family, anyone?) embed themselves into her life. At last, she has only one focus, helping the sheriff: "She knew this man well enough to realize that there was only one thing that could help him heal, and that was finding the killer."

Between her risk-taking but brilliant teen daughter Gertie, her librarian buddy who's an undercover investigator, and a perilously young new FBI agent desperate for her attention, Tess has a lot to handle. Not to mention solving the case, saving her (uncertain) relationship, and responding to queries from her agent.

A third book in this series is already titled, so it's time to snag both ON SPINE OF DEATH and its predecessor, BURIED IN A GOOD BOOK, and enjoy some lively and occasionally absurd distraction.

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

Delightful Peter Diamond (British) Mystery from Peter Lovesey, SHOWSTOPPER

A good traditional British mystery is a great gift to a reader in this genre, and Peter Lovesey provides yet another in his December 2022 offering, SHOWSTOPPER. The premise is clear and clever: A popular TV show called Swift began six years earlier, after the awkwardness of its star actress dropping out before filming -- and a quick and workable replacement. But when multiple injuries make it into the media, the notion of a curse on this show heightens attention.

This coincides with the production moving to Bath, where Peter Diamond is Chief of the Avon and Somerset Murder Squad. At least, he hopes he still has the job -- his peculiarly unpleasant boss Georgina is once again working on ejecting him, this time as a forced retirement on the excuse that he's lost his ability to solve cases. So there's only one obvious solution: Discover the all-too-human source of the "curse" and stop the cascade of crimes. Even though, of course, he's been told not to bother.

By evening, the seriousness of what he had done caught up to Diamond. Georgina was sure to hear about the van called out to Claverton Down, the scene of crime unit at work on the airfield and the tramp and his dog in the custody cell. She'd be livid. He'd ignored her instruction to drop all interest in the jinx story, go into virtual lockdown and get the team applying for refresher courses. If his future as a police officer had looked doubtful then, it was in free fall now.

Beset by self-doubt but determined to get his crew cracking the case, Diamond retains the skills that have brought him so far -- including when to listen to his instinct and do a solo grilling of one of the "riggers" for the TV set. "Fergus clenched his fists and the serpent tattoos wriggled. Baiting him was a dangerous game, but Diamond wasn't stopping now."

This is a must-read for any dedicated reader of this genre, because it's tightly plotted, neatly twisted from clue to clue, salted with humor, and, as the publisher crows, a "meticulous mystery." And all this from an 86-year-old author who's been named a Grandmaster in both America and Britain. The conclusion is clear: There's no excuse for shabby writing, when Peter Lovesey demonstrates time and again that a well-applied mind and creative spirit are well up to the task. 

You might as well order or purchase two copies; you'll want to share it, but you won't want to chance losing your own copy, right? Hat tip to this author who teaches us all that aging might only make you better at your work. (And for more of our Lovesey reviews, click here.)

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

New Espionage Fiction in the Top Tier, JUDAS 62 from Charles Cumming

 

[Originally published at New York Journal of Books]

“Cumming effectively ramps up suspense, in this hefty page-turner revelatory of modern espionage’s methods. “

 

If the arc of history is long and bends toward justice, what about the arc of espionage? Is there an inevitable personal price to pay for the lies and wounds of a past career deceiving others politically across the globe? For lifelong spy Lachlan Kite, now director of a secret counterintelligence unit in the United Kingdom, the dead enemies of the past seem to rise up and walk again, when he finds his name on a Russian kill list. But do the enemies who have put his long-ago alias onto the JUDAS 62 list know who he really is?

 

British author Charles Cumming is reliably accurate in assigning capacities for data gathering, manipulation, and plotting to his teams, whether Western or Russian; writing from his own brief experience in the UK’s MI6 and abundant research since then, he adds a fine sense of human frailty and predictable betrayal to his plots. In JUDAS 62, Lachlan Kite’s early attachments and struggles from his first foreign assignment demonstrate how close he, or any such operative, comes to failing. For Kite, this is due to his underestimation of the enemy and naive willingness to defy authority. Though his overall mission at the time may succeed, the death of a scientist linked to the one he brought out from Russian control signals that almost all may now be laid bare—and Kite may pay with his life.

 

Much of the action takes place in Russia, caught up in complications of mixed loyalties. Taking time to paint all the details, with an overall novel length of about 500 pages, Cumming leads Kite to create a potential trap for his enemy. First, of course, he has to come to terms with his new vulnerability:

 

“The Aranov operation had cost Kite a great deal, personally and professionally. Peter Galvin was an almost-forgotten name from his past. Now the legend was again in circulation. It had taken him twenty-seven years, but Mikhail Gromik was finally ready to come after him. … ‘I’m perfectly safe,’ Kite replied, though he did not believe this. The idea that he was vulnerable to Gromik and to the scum who had murdered Evgeny was abohorrent to him. ‘They’re not going to come knocking on my door.’ Mahsood looked as unconvinced by this as Kite might have expected. They both knew he was on shaky ground.”

 

When the plot to trap the hunters and remove the target from Kite’s back—and from the backs of his colleagues—develops, it requires delicate manipulation of viewpoints of the former rescued scientist, the Russians on the hunt, and Kite’s own colleagues. Most dangerously, the trap must be executed in Dubai. So many things can, and do, go wrong.

 

Cumming effectively ramps up suspense in this hefty page-turner revelatory of modern espionage’s methods. Every move must be successfully choreographed … or countered. Lock your door, set the phone on “silent,” and prioritize: Keep reading, and watch for the moment when a very sophisticated “honey trap” clicks into place, and Aranov thanks a thoughtful man in a restaurant who pumps his hand and says, “This is my girlfriend, Sally Tarshish, and our good friend, Natalia. Are you hear in Dubai for business or pleasure?”

 

This is the second in a series from Cumming; the first was BOX 88. No need to read it before JUDAS 62, but the two are firmly linked. Contemporary and tightly plotted, this new pair makes an excellent addition to the espionage fiction collection. 

 

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

 

A Guide to London from Christopher Fowler's Peculiar Crimes Unit—So Much Fun!

 [Originally published at New York Journal of Books]

“Fowler reports that his literary agent said (with delight) ‘Oh, it’s a Bryant & May book, just without the murder plot!’”

 

After 18 books full of the London detection adventures of 80-year-old Arthur Bryant and his partner John May (not as elderly and far more modern), Christopher Fowler allows his eccentric pair to lay out their very unusual knowledge of London for readers ready for a distinctively different travel guide.

 

Most importantly, this volume does not attach to specific investigations of the Peculiar Crimes Unit—a “venerable specialist police team … founded during the Second World War to investigate cases that could cause national scandal or public unrest” (Fowler’s website). Instead, it’s a delightfully ridiculous and historically rich set of explorations of the aspects of London that might be missed by a conventional tour guide: specifics of many, many pubs. Reading the book takes far longer if you pause to look up, say, the Lamb & Flag public house in Covent Garden; the pub’s very real website even shows the narrow passageway at the entrance described by Arthur Bryant. The menu includes buffalo-milk ice cream. (It’s shocking that Bryant misses this detail on his tour, but then again, the point of a public house for the PCU members involves an alcoholic beverage and British traditional dishes, right?)

 

DCI John May interrupts on occasion to remind Arthur of details like how to record on a cassette tape and what a mobile cell phone is called (Arthur calls it a walkie-phone), and sometimes to lend an air of almost normality among the 475 pages. Others making cameo appearances include co-workers and of course Raymond Land, head of the PCU. Land’s introduction includes such snarky comments as “If you’re still planning to read this volume of rambling conversations with half-mad friends, good luck to you. I reckon it’s your last chance to dodge a bullet but what do I know, I’m only the Unit chief. You’re big enough to look after yourselves. Don’t come complaining to me.”

 

Fowler reports that his literary agent said (with delight) “Oh, it’s a Bryant & May book, just without the murder plot!” Contrariwise, consider it a murder mystery that’s expanded its setting details to a highly realistic 475 pages (yes, that’s the second time mentioning the book size; how long was the last travel guide you carried? not the one on your walkie-phone, please). And where else can you find a page of “Bryantisms” all put together as a resource?

 

By now it should be clear that this book will be quite confusing to those who haven’t read at least one PCU mystery in the past. But there’s nothing wrong with a good factual compilation of London guided tour detail, heavy on the history, and wryly confusing, is there?

 

After all, where else can you find Arthur Bryant explaining London’s (non-pub-related) strength: “For every Terence Rattigan, Elizabeth Bower or George Eliot, there’s always a disreputable, struggling rebel writer seeking like-minded individuals. … For a bookish chap like me, Great Britain is a paradise.”

 

Besides, who else but Arthur Bryant is going to list for you the notables cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium? Fear not, he claims he’s not about to vanish into retirement or leave his city: “London is like a greedy old landlady. She didn’t ask me to come, didn’t invite me to stay, and won’t miss me when I’ve left. And that suits me fine.”

 

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

 

Jane Smiley Brings Gold-Rush Women into Crime Fiction in A DANGEROUS BUSINESS

 [Originally published at New York Journal of Books]

“There’s a lot of entertainment in seeing Eliza apply the methods of a fictional detective to the hazards of her dangerous life. Well researched and smoothly told, the book is a fine entertainment and offers a fresh perspective of women’s ways of surviving the frontier.”

 

Deftly blending a clever murder mystery with historical strands, Jane Smiley in A Dangerous Business offers an entrancing view of California life in the 1850s Gold Rush days. Framing the story of a young widow working in a house of prostitution, Smiley proves once again that society when viewed from beneath can be messy and violent—but also tender and intriguing.

 

Eliza Ripple is mostly better off than during her brief marriage, despite the demeaning physical nature of her job. Her employer, Mrs. Parks, both respects and supports her, as long as she performs her duties and maintains an attractive appearance and surface persona. Despite the obvious dangers of submitting to the desires of strangers who sometimes exert anger and even violence in the bedchamber, Eliza feels well protected by both Mrs. Parks and the live-in bodyguard Carlos; if she leaves the chamber door open a crack, Carlos understands that she is frightened, and if her employer is concerned, she too will set the door slightly ajar. It’s a supportive situation.

That is, until Eliza begins to explore the terrain outside the working downtown of Monterey in the company of another young woman sex worker, Jean—who tends to the physical desires of women instead, often in terms of massage and comfort, rather than what Eliza calls, for men, “doing their business.” The new allies savor a country ride … until the moment when they find the body of a young woman, probably one of the several who’ve recently gone missing.

 

In a charming if naive fashion, Eliza and Jean attempt to apply the detective methods shown by Dupin, a detective in the popular fiction written by Edgar Allen Poe. Naturally, they are quickly over their heads, and discovering yet another corpse—this time, of a woman who’d been kind to them—is an appalling experience. Yet they feel called to focus and “detect”:

 

“Eliza said, ‘We have to look for signs.’

 

‘About who did it? Yes, but then we have to remember what we saw.’

 

‘No way to write it down.’ Eliza glanced around. She didn’t see ink or a quill.

 

Jean took a few deep breaths, then said, ‘We repeat it until we can remember it.’”

 

When Eliza reports the discovery of a body to Mrs. Parks, she finds herself on new ground: “Now seemed the right time to tell Mrs. Parks about her so-called investigations with Jean, but Eliza refrained, though she was not sure why. Perhaps there was something about the killing of [XXX] that made her distrust everyone, even Mrs. Parks.”

 

Smiley crafts a neat tale of investigation and self-discovery, while managing to maintain a portrait of prostitution as a surprisingly kind necessity of the time. Eliza is methodical and insightful, and the support around her protects her from serious harm, even from threat for the most part. As in the classic Western novels, this gentling of “a dangerous business” makes the book easy to relax with—but may not be as accurate as one could hope.

 

Even if Eliza survives her improvised murder investigation, will she still be employed? What is the future of a woman without family, in the wild West? And what kind of friendship is she developing with Jean, whose “skills” are so different from her own?

A Dangerous Business is relaxing reading, and there’s a lot of entertainment in seeing Eliza apply the methods of a fictional detective to the hazards of her dangerous life. Well researched and smoothly told, the book is a fine entertainment and offers a fresh perspective of women’s ways of surviving the frontier.

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

 

Anthony Berkeley's Gold Age Mystery MURDER IN THE BASEMENT Reprinted

 [Originally published at New York Journal of Books]

“With a set of clever twists, Berkeley finally lays out the issue of how best to see justice served, and the answers are both rueful and entertaining.”

 

For the reissue of this “crime classic” by of the Golden Age mystery authors, Anthony Berkeley, an insightful introduction from series editor (and author) Martin Edwards. Framing the 1932 novel as “the first detective novel to contain a ‘whowasdunin’ mystery,” Edwards point readers toward more than just a gallop through a British investigation—and instead into regarding how Berkely in 1932 broke new ground in how to tell a good story.

 

The tale opens with Reginald and Molly Dane, charmingly inexperienced newlyweds, exploring their very first house. When Reginald finds evidence of something bricked up under the cellar floor, the two expect a treasure chest of gold—but alas, as Chief Inspector Moresby and his me soon confirm, the buried item is a body. And from here on (barely into Chapter I), Murder in the Basement marches with the difficulties of identification before forensic science’s modern miracles, and then to the competitive darknesses behind the scene in a school called Roland House.

 

With this entry, experienced Berkeley readers will perk up and sniff the wind, since the Chief Inspector heads to the author Roger Sheringham—a clever inhabitant of other Berkeley mysteries—to ask about the school. Sheringham spent two weeks there, doing research for a novel while also observing the stresses among staff members. Could he have actually instigated the crime with what he told the staff? Sheringham admits:

 

“They’d been egging me on to talk about murder … I gave them, in fact, a sort of lecture on murder, not as a fine art but as a practical means of getting rid of an unwanted person. I talked a lot of damned rot, of course, but then I always do. I never dreamed that any one of them could be taking me seriously: but it looks very much as if one of them did.”

 

Then, in a nimble twist that we’d now call “a bit of meta,” the crime novel shifts to offering Sheringham’s own manuscript, challenging both its author and the reader to pick out who the unnamed victim must have been. For if Sheringham’s theories of crime are effective, that should be possible from an outline of the situation—right?

 

With a set of clever twists, Berkeley finally lays out the issue of how best to see justice served, and the answers are both rueful and entertaining—demonstrating again why the early 20th century, in developing crime novels and their authors, has been proclaimed a Golden Age. Whether you’d pick your crime authors of choice during the 1920s and 1930s from Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, G. K. Chesterton, and John Creasey, or their American counterparts Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Mary Roberts Rinehart, here is a good reason to consider adding Anthony Berkeley to your list.

 

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

 

Swedish Noir: Second John Adderley Thriller #2 from Peter Mohlin and Peter Nyström

 [Originally published at New York Journal of Books]

“It all comes together in a grimly satisfying series of events, showing more clearly than ever that Mohlin and Nyström understand costs and penalties. The finale of the book sets John reeling with the consequences he’s set in motion.”

 

This second novel by the Swedish friends and co-writers Mohlin and Nyström more than lives up to their 2021 debut in The Bucket List. Like the first novel, The Other Sister is told in alternating chapters, this time by a murder victim’s sister and by former FBI agent John Adderley. The harsh crescendo of revelation adds both suspense and depth to a very dark tale of bad choices leading to crime and consequences.

 

John Adderley, who previously gave up the security of American “witness protection” in order to return to Sweden to try to salvage his half-brother’s life, isn’t doing well in a Swedish County Criminal Investigation Division—his boss lacks management skills, making it tough for John to investigate at his best. Protecting his family members added stress to his police connections in the earlier book. Now things get much worse: The other man who’d tackled undercover work with him, Trevor, is in Sweden to beg John to extend a different kind of protection, a video that insures John’s safety from the Nigerian drug cartel he and Trevor infiltrated back in Baltimore. John’s rightfully hesitant—is Trevor actually working (unwillingly) for the cartel?

 

Meanwhile, the crime John’s supposed to be investigating on behalf of the Swedish team is much more complicated than it first looks. The reader learns the secrets and twists of this through the eyes of Alicia, sister to murder victim Stella—the sisters own a high-tech online dating site, with Alicia leading the computer underlayer, and Stella being the public face. In fact, Alicia’s face is exactly the problem: She’s scarred, horribly, and nobody would buy a product linked with her appearance. Alicia’s also abusing alcohol at a shattering level of danger.

 

Alicia is the one with the worst secrets. The narrative style means readers absorb the horrors of her life, while John is still struggling to survive the international crime syndicate that’s located him. That barrier of knowledge morphs The Other Sister into a high-stakes thriller, as Alicia’s drunken manipulations and John’s half-blinded efforts tear into each other.

 

John is, of course, the ultimate focus, and Mohlin and Nyström (with deft translation by Ian Giles) grant him clarity to see that “Everything that could have gone wrong had gone wrong—and now he was trudging around in the trees without knowing which way was up.” While Alicia’s awful choices come from both alcohol and simmering rage, John’s add up to violating the loyalty he owes to both the law and his team.

 

“After the shooting at Bergvik, John simply had to recognize that the law—in the strictly legal sense—was no longer his guiding principle. Instead, he was deploying his own homemade moral philosophy, which seemed to take it for granted that most things were allowed if you were trying to secure your own liberty and survival. He comforted himself with the fact that this was probably the rule most people adhered to when their own existence was at stake.”

 

This cuts him off from his best allies, a lousy position. There will be no happy endings. Yet it all comes together in a grimly satisfying series of events, showing more clearly than ever that Mohlin and Nyström understand costs and penalties. The finale of the book sets John reeling with the consequences he’s set in motion.

 

It looks like there will be a third John Adderley thriller. John may survive, through his pragmatic deceptions. But where and how will he hide next?

 

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