2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel - My Choice (UPDATED)

   The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  Click on the hyperlinks above to view my review of each book. The Mystery Writers of America will announce the winner on April 28, 2022.  This blog post will reveal my personal favorite and the rational for my choice.

    I would like to say that this year's nominees presented a pleasant surprise for me.  I usually dislike at least one of the novels, and in some years, I have had a challenging time finishing one or more of them.  This year, I enjoyed all the books and found each of them to be very entertaining.  The quality of writing is outstanding in all five.  The locales were all interesting and different from the usual urban settings of most crime and mystery novels.  So, which one is my winner?

    I enjoyed reading Rhys Bowen's The Venice Sketchbook.  It had an interesting plot, and the descriptions of Venice were outstanding.  This book made me want to hop on a plane to Italy.  That said, I don't think this is really a "mystery" book.  Nobody is murdered.  No one goes missing.  There are old family secrets which are ferreted out, but I just couldn't really figure out why this was nominated for a best mystery novel.  

     Razorblade Tears was another well-plotted novel.  I enjoyed the setting in and around my new hometown of Richmond, Virginia.  The author combined a good story with an agenda to discuss LGBTQ issues and the combination generally succeeds.  I was a bit put off by the brutal violence sequences.  I suppose they were necessary to define the wickedness of the story's protagonists, but I was put off by it.

     Kat Rosenfeld's No One Will Miss Her had nifty plot twists and the story moved along at a brisk pace.  The rural setting in Maine was a plus.  I thought the characters were a bit stereotyped.  The rich girl versus poor girl struggle gets turned on its head and that makes this nominee a real contender for the Edgar Award.

     How Lucky contains totally unique and intriguing characters.  The backbone of the novel is a basic missing girl story, but the charming and one-of-a-kind narrator makes this nominee special.   What S.A. Cosby does for LGBTQ issues, Will Leitch does here for prejudices and pre-conceived notions regarding physically handicapped people.  In my opinion, the violent conclusion detracted from the story, but all the mysteries were resolved.  

     Five Decembers was my favorite of the five and if I had a vote, I would vote for this nominee to be the winner.  The settings in Honolulu, Manila, Singapore, and Tokyo were exciting.  The historical context of World War II added importance.  The characters were very sympathetic and extremely well developed. Again, I enjoyed all five of these nominees and won't argue with any of the other four if they are voted the 2022 Edgar Winner, but Five Decembers by James Kestrel was my clear favorite.  

May 2, 2022 - 

The Mystery Writers of America announced their winners and in the best novel category they concur with me!  Five Decembers by James Kestrel is the 2022 Edgar Award Winner in the Best Novel category!

     

The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen

 

The Venice Sketchbook

Author: Rhys Bowen

Publisher: Amazon Publishing

Date of Publication: April 13, 2021

Pages: 412

      

     The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  This is the fifth and final of my reviews for this list of books. Click on the hyperlinks above to view the previous reviews. Shortly I will publish a separate post with my pick for the Edgar Award. The Mystery Writers of America announce their choice later this month.

    This is a fine novel which I enjoyed very much. My only gripe here is that it does not seem to fit the typical "mystery novel" genre. Much of it reads like a romance, and other parts are more of a travelogue. Again, this is not knocking the book, I just wonder how it wound up being nominated for a best mystery award!

     The author deftly balances two plots. One is set from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s, and the second is set in 2001 following the terror attacks of 9/11. In the early story, an 18-year-old young British woman named Juliet Browning accompanies her elderly aunt on a trip to Venice. There she meets and becomes enamored with an Italian man who is several years her senior and belongs to an elite family   She returns some years later with a school group, reconnects with her now married nobleman, and soon returns on a one-year art fellowship. War clouds are forming in Europe, and Juliet's life becomes complicated. In the more contemporary story, Caroline Grant, a recently separated fashion designer, inherits an assortment of odd items from her spinster great Aunt Juliet. Included in her inheritance is a set of keys and instructions to go to Venice. Caroline slowly untangles the true story of Juliet's life in Venice. Telling a story from two perspectives and from two different time periods often ends in a mess, but not here. The two stories are very complimentary, and the author moves back and forth between the two with great skill.

     The descriptions and settings in Venice are very vivid and make the reader want to hop on a plane and visit this great city as soon as possible! I have never been there but feel that I could find my way around Venice after reading this book. The rendering of the art scene in Venice in the 1930s is remarkable as well. The author includes famous artists such as Paul Klee, which adds to the authenticity of the story. The romantic interludes were central to both stories and well told, but I found these surprising in a best mystery novel nominee.

     Overall, The Venice Sketchbook is an excellent novel told with great skill.  It is just not what I expected from an Edgar nominee.

A Thousand Steps by T. Jefferson Parker

 

A Thousand Steps

Author: T. Jefferson Parker

Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

Date of Publication: January 11, 2022

Pages: 368

      T, Jefferson Parker is a marvelous writer.  He has won two previous Edgar Awards for the best mystery novel of the year (Silent Joe in 2001 and California Girl in 2003) and another Edgar for the best short story ("Skinhead Central" in 2008). A Thousand Steps may be his best yet.

     This is basically a missing girl story, but it is so much more than that.  It is a surreal look into the culture in Southern California in the late 1960s.  It is like opening a time capsule and seeing all of the music, clothes, drugs, cars, and attitudes of that time and place.  At the center of the story is Matt Anthony, a sixteen year old in Laguna Beach who lives off of his paper route money and is basically raising himself.  His dad has moved on to another family in Arizona and his mom is trying to find herself in the counterculture.  His older sister Jasmine (nicknamed Jazz) fails to come home for several nights in a row.   The police figure she is just another hippie girl runaway.  However, a classmate of Jazz' is found dead on the beach which ratchets up the tension quite a bit.    Matt initiates his own investigation which leads him on a circuitous path through pot parties, orgies, communes, and music festivals.  Parker brings that era back to life with great characters (fictional as well as real-life folks such as Timothy Leary), incredible detail, and vivid descriptions of place.  

     This is a a great read.  I can't imagine that this book won't be nominated for next year's Edgar Award and probably be the winner.    

2022 Edgar Nominee Five Decembers by James Kestrel

 

Five Decembers

Author: James Kestrel

Publisher: Titan

Date of Publication: October 26, 2021

Pages: 428

     The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  This is the fourth of my reviews for this list of books.  Click on the hyperlinks above to view the previous reviews.  

     This book is terrific.  It combines a fine noir murder mystery, a love story, and a well-researched historical narrative.  The settings of Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Manila, Hong Kong, and Tokyo are essential to the story and are brilliantly rendered.  The plot is complex but keeps the reader locked in.  The story starts in Honolulu in early December, 1941.  A young couple is found in an isolated shed brutally murdered.  The young woman is Japanese and the young man is a nephew of the Admiral in command of Pearl Harbor.  Detective Joe McGrady of the Honolulu Police Department is the lead investigator and follows the primary suspect across the Pacific to Manila and Hong Kong.  Before he can make an arrest, Joe is captured by the Japanese and spends the rest of the war in Tokyo.  After the armistice is signed on the U.S.S. Missouri, Joe returns to Honolulu and attempts to resurrect what is now a cold case.  Stephen King calls this "An electrifying read.  The last chapter is a real stunner."  These are, believe it or not, gross understatements.  

   I enjoyed this book for many reasons.  The large cast of characters are all well developed.  Joe McGrady is a classic 1940s gumshoe who is very sympathetic and mostly plays by the rules until he doesn't.  Gloves come off when Joe returns to Honolulu in 1945 and realizes he has been betrayed by former colleagues and things aren't what they seemed in 1941.  The plot moves along with many twists and turns.  The settings as I mentioned above, are great.  This author has done an amazing amount of research to bring these locales to life.  The descriptions of the fire bombing of Tokyo and the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are worth reading the whole book for.   This is a very worthy nominee for the 2022 Edgar Award.   

  

Edgar Nominee: No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield

 

No One Will Miss Her

Author: Kat Rosenfield

Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher

Date of Publication: October 12, 2021

Pages: 304

     The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  This is the third of my reviews for this list of books.  Click on the hyperlinks above to view the previous reviews.  

     This book has a lot of positive aspects.  The characters are unique and while not particularly endearing, they are well developed by the author.  The settings include rural Maine and Boston.  The author's descriptions of place are excellent, and add a tremendous amount to the story,  

     The plot opens with the discovery of a local woman named Lizzy Ouellette in Copper Falls, Maine who has been brutally murdered and disfigured.  Her husband is missing and becomes the primary suspect.  Lizzy grew up with her single father in a junkyard which he owned and ran.  She fixed up an isolated old cottage and rents it out to vacationers from the city.  One of her most frequent renters is a social media influencer and her high society husband.  They were to be renting the cabin where Lizzy's body is found.

     A state police investigator joins the murder inquiry, much to the consternation of the local police.  The list of folks who either resented or had arguments with Lizzy and/or her husband gets longer the more the detective digs into the case.  The investigator uncovers the curious relationship between the "wrong side of the tracks" Lizzie and the big city influencer/renter, Adrienne Richards.  Designer clothes as well as jewelry and other items formerly belonging to Adreinne are found in Lizzie's home.  The relationship between the poor, lower class country girl and the sophisticated, world-wise socialite is found to be more and more peculiar.

     The plot of this novel is fast-paced and keeps you guessing and keeps the pages turning.  There is a startling twist of plot about mid-way through the story which ratchets up the tension and mystery quite dramatically.  This is a very worthy nominee for the Edgar Award and I enjoyed it very much.  

Edgar Nominee: How Lucky by Will Leitch

How Lucky

Author: Will Leitch

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Date of Publication: May 11, 2021

Pages: 304

     The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  This is the second of my reviews for this list of books.  Click on the hyperlink above to read the previous review.

     This nominee combines a totally unique narrator, a tricky plot, great secondary characters, and a satisfying (although explosively violent) conclusion.  The main character is Daniel Leads, a young adult with Type II Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  SMA is a genetic neuromuscular disorder which causes progressive muscular degeneration and weakness.  Despite his handicap Daniel lives independently with the help of caregivers and a few close friends.  Daniel's courage, tenacity, independence, and humor make him a tremendously sympathetic character.  While telling a great story, Daniel also gives the reader a terrific insight into the life of a person living with a frightful handicap.  

     The plot involves the disappearance of a foreign student from the campus of the University of Georgia.  The setting of Athens, Georgia, also lends a distinct uniqueness to this novel.  While sitting in his wheelchair on his front porch one morning, Daniel sees the young Chinese woman get into a Camaro.  He also had a good view of the driver.  Daniel has difficulty reporting these details to the police, so he enters an online chat room to describe what he saw.  He quickly gets a communication from someone claiming to be the driver who has abducted the young woman.  Multiple e-mails follow, the police finally get involved, and the mystery is eventually solved.  

 

     Much like Razorblade Tears, this book is more than the usual mystery novel.  It makes a bold statement regarding the lives of handicapped people and how they must deal with the ignorance and insensitivity of the non-handicapped population.  Much like the racial prejudices faced by the characters in S. A. Cosby's fine novel, Daniel has to learn to live with people's preconceived notions regarding people in wheelchairs and the discrimination which results.  

     This book has been criticized as a mere modern retelling of Hitchcock's "Rear Window" but it is so much more than that.  The similarities end with the main characters being in wheelchairs.  How Lucky opens a window into the life of a feisty, independent, and courageous handicapped person who manages to contribute mightily to society despite his difficulties.  This is a marvelous book, well worthy of the Edgar Nomination it has received.   

Edgar Award Nominee: Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby

 

Razorblade Tears

Author: S.A. Cosby

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Date of Publication: July 6, 2021

Pages: 336

     The five nominees for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel are: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, The Venice Sketchbook by Rhys Bowen, Five Decembers by James Kestrel, How Lucky by Will Leitch, and No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield.  This is the first of my reviews for this list of books.

     I immediately became engrossed in this book since it is set in my new (and old) hometown of Richmond, Virginia.  One scene even takes place in a strip mall about two miles from my new home!  There are references to many Richmond landmarks including the recently removed Civil War statues on Monument Avenue.  Even if you are not familiar with our area, the descriptions of the city and surrounding counties are vivid and add to the depth of this story.

     The story itself is intriguing.  Two fathers, one black and one white, dissatisfied with the lack of progress of a police investigation, join forces to find the killer of their married, gay sons.  Both fathers are ex-cons and each had rejected their sons for their lifestyle.  Poking around their sons' workplaces and acquaintances they become entangled with a large biker gang.  Violence and mayhem ensue.  

     The writing in this book is very good.  The characters are well developed and the dialogue is superb.  The exchanges between the two main characters are particularly crisp.   The action moves the story along at a brisk pace.  The brutal encounters with the bikers are not for the faint-hearted!  The story is a good one and gives the author a platform to examine contemporary aspects of race relations as well as LGBTQ issues.  In many regards this novel evokes favorable comparisons to Joe R. Lansdale's Hap Collins and Leonard Pine novels.  

   Razorblade Tears is a worthy nominee for the Edgar Award.  I enjoyed it very much.

2019 Best Novel Edgar Award - Updated

     Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne, The Liar's Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard, House Witness by Mike Lawson, Down to the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley,  A Gambler's Jury by Victor Methos and A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourne are the six novels nominated for the 2019 Best Mystery Novel Edgar Award.  I have reviewed each individually and you can read those reviews by clicking on each link.  The Mystery Writers of America announced the 2019 winner on April 25.  My pick is as follows:

     First let me say that I enjoyed every one of these novels and that is not the case for all Edgar nominees in previous years.  Each novel has its unique strengths and every one was entertaining.  Here's a condensed review of each nominee:


     The quality of the writing and the ringing clarity of the descriptions of everything from the characters to the setting keep the reader turning the pages even when the plot lags a bit.  Staying true to the "bewilderingly dreamlike plots" of Raymond Chandler makes the pace of this almost glacial in spots.  The splendid writing, however, saves the day.






     Set in Victorian London, this book is a cat and mouse game of puzzling clues and misdirection.  The book has exciting twists of plot and a tumultuous ending.  A Treacherous Curse was the one novel of the six which I though I would enjoy the least, but it was great.  I read it quickly and would recommend it highly.







     The setting for A Gambler's Jury is Salt Lake City and its surrounding counties.  This is a nice change from the usual Los Angeles or New York locales for mystery novels.  The author, a seasoned criminal-defense and civil-rights lawyer himself, deftly describes the peculiarities of the justice system in Utah.  The characters are all very human and very believable.  The ending has a neat twist of plot which was actually fairly predictable almost from the outset.  I enjoyed A Gambler's Jury and found it to be a very worthy nominee for the 2019 Edgar for best mystery novel.  I will look forward to reading other books by this author.



     Mike Lawson actually has you rooting for the bad guys (although who the bad guys are in this book is a fluid notion).  The plot is so believable, the characters are so exceptionally well developed, the pace is so fast (though not hurried) and the dialogue is so genuine that the book is nearly impossible to put down.  Add to this the New York setting and in my opinion you have the perfect crime novel!  If Ed McBain was alive and writing, he would have written House Witness.  This book is that good!





     Read Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosley for the spectacular writing.  Read it because of the astute social commentaries contained within.  Read it because it is a great story.  Read it because it may very well be the 2019 Edgar Award winner for the best mystery novel of the year.  Just read it!

    This is a serial killer story with a twist.  A man is in jail for murders committed ten years ago.  When new murders occur, are they copycats or is the wrong man in jail?  I really enjoyed the author's descriptions of Dublin and Cork, two places I have never been but would love to visit.  They added a lot to what is a very enjoyable and entertaining mystery.  This is a worthy nominee for the 2019 Best Novel Edgar.  

     I enjoyed every one of these novels.  They are all worthy of nomination and any could win the Edgar for Best Mystery Novel.  My pick, however, would be Mike Lawson's House Witness.  The combination of tight plotting, great dialogue and superb character development made it my favorite.  My second place (and just as good, really) is Walter Mosley's Down the River Unto the Sea.  We will see which is the actual winner later this week!

   Well, I was half right.  The Mystery Writers of America chose Walter Mosley's Down the River Unto the Sea as the 2019 Edgar Award Winner for the Best Mystery Novel.  I can't disagree but would reiterate that all of the nominees were worthy of nomination and quite capable of being the award winner.

Book Review: Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne (2019 Best Novel Edgar Nominee)

Only to Sleep

Author: Lawrence Osborne

Publisher: Crown/Archetype

Date of Publication: July 24, 2018

Pages: 272

     Only to Sleep is one of six novels nominated for the 2019 Best Mystery Novel Edgar Award.  The other five are: The Liar's Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard, House Witness by Mike Lawson, Down to the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley  and A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourne.  This is the final book of the six which I have reviewed.

     Lawrence Osborne is only the third author asked by the Raymond Chandler estate to write a new Philip Marlowe novel.  The other two were John Banville and Robert B. Parker.  In the epilogue to the book the author states that he "tried to stay faithful to the bewilderingly dreamlike plots of Chandler because it has always seemed to me that they incarnate the qualities of both fairy tale and nightmare to which he aspired."  Further, Osborne notes that Chandler himself wrote that he saw Marlowe "always in a lonely street, in lonely rooms, puzzled but never quite defeated."  Osborne has certainly not strayed from those two tenets in Only to Sleep.  It is an atmospheric novel, almost a quest.  The endpoint of the story is always moving, Marlowe's ultimate goal remains elusive.

     The basic plot is basically quite simple.  Ageless Marlowe, retired and living in Mexico, agrees to come out of retirement and investigate a suspicious drowning.  The insurance company has already paid out a large life insurance claim, but wants to make sure they are not being scammed.  The drowning victim, an elderly real estate developer from Southern California with large outstanding debt, washed up on a beach in Mexico.  His body was identified by his young widow and then was quickly cremated.  The insurance company is not comfortable with all of this.

     Marlowe begins by visiting the widow, a young Mexican who met her husband when she was a cocktail waitress in a bar in a Mexican beach resort.  Marlowe then visits the site of the drowning and follows a circuitous trail of clues.

     The writing in Only to Sleep is superb.  While being recruited by the insurance company, Marlowe ruminates:

"The drinks arrived.  I hadn't worked in ten years and I had retired too late as it was.  In those final days, I felt I had run out of courage rather than energy.  Seventy-two isn't a a bad age, but sixty-two is too old to be working.  You are just impersonating the man you used to be.  Retirement had seemed like the best way not to die, but the adrenaline had gone the day I threw in the towel and it never returned.  You have your books and your movies, your daydreams and your moments in the sun, but none of those can save you any more than irony can."

Describing the guests at a high society garden party:

"They had the high-wire arrogance of the intoxicated."

Dining with one of his aging investigators, Marlowe describes the scene:

"The burgers came with paper tubs of coleslaw, pickles, and cheese fries.  In the green light we looked like two aging chimps eating scraps in a cave."

Marlowe's (Osborne's) description of a man he comes across:

"He was a desert gnome made of wire and thorns, a human tumbleweed in a plaid shirt, with a can of tobacco and a pipe laid in the sand beside him."

     The quality of the writing and the ringing clarity of the descriptions of everything from the characters to the setting keep the reader turning the pages even when the plot lags a bit.  Staying true to the "bewilderingly dreamlike plots" of Raymond Chandler makes the pace of this almost glacial in spots.  The splendid writing, however, saves the day.

Book Review: A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourne (2019 Best Novel Edgar Nominee)

A Treacherous Curse

Author: Deanna Raybourn

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Date of Publication: January 16, 2018

Pages: 320

     A Treacherous Curse is one of six novels nominated for the 2019 Best Mystery Novel Edgar Award.  The other five are: The Liar's Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard, House Witness by Mike Lawson, Down to the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley , Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne, and A Gambler's Jury by Victor Methos.  This is the fifth of the six which I have reviewed so far.

     Veronica Speedwell, the heroine of A Treacherous Curse, is a modern-day woman living in Victorian England.  She is happily independent, a scientist when women were not scientists and confidently self-reliant.  She manipulates men at will:

"He proceeded to lecture me for the next quarter of an hour, about what I cannot say, for I turned my attention to the contents of the packing crate.  I had long since discovered upon my travels that men are largely the same no matter where one encounters them.  And if one is prepared to let them discourse on their pet topics of conversation, one can generally get on with things quite handily without any interference."

     These men she so casually manipulates include Stoker, her partner in scientific and criminal investigation.  Speedwell and Stoker are hired by Lord Rosemoran to catalog his collection of "art, artifacts, zoological specimens, books, manuscripts, jewels, armor, and a thousand other things that defied description" with the intent of eventually opening a private museum.  The two then become fascinated with the Tiverton Expedition to Egypt, led by Sir Leicester Tiverton, "an excitable baronet of middle years."  This expedition had uncovered some incredible artifacts in unanticipated locations.  However, the excavation director died on location under suspicious circumstances.  Also, one of the expedition photographers, along with the most valuable artifact discovered by the expedition, is missing.  There are rumblings of a curse on the expedition.

     Sir Hugo Montgomerie, head of the Special Branch hires Veronica and Stoker to find out what they can about the Tiverton Expedition in general and the missing photographer in particular.  What follows is a cat and mouse game of puzzling clues and misdirection.  The book has exciting twists of plot and a tumultuous ending.

     The setting of Victorian England is a major plus for this novel and the writing is strong throughout and spectacular in spots:

"If I am honest, the space was narrow enough to cause my chest to tighten uncomfortable.  The passage itself was not so small as to constrict me, but the feeling of imperfect liberty was alarming.  I had little experience of caves - butterfly hunting, of necessity, takes place in meadows - but I was not certain a familiarity with enclosed spaces would help.  Only resolve and discipline would carry the day, I reflected."

A Treacherous Curse was the one novel of the six which I though I would enjoy the least, but it was great.  I read it quickly and would recommend it highly.

Book Review: A Gambler's Jury by Victor Methos (2019 Edgar Nominee)

A Gambler's Jury

Author: Victor Methos

Publisher: Amazon Publishing

Date of Publication: February 27, 2018

Pages: 336

     A Gambler's Jury is one of six novels nominated for the 2019 Best Mystery Novel Edgar Award.  The other five are: The Liar's Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard, House Witness by Mike Lawson, Down to the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley , Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne, and A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourne.  This is the fourth of the six which I have reviewed so far.

     You've got to love a book which starts out with the sentence: "It was all fun and games until I showed up to court so hungover that my head felt like it was going to explode."  Such is the life for Salt Lake City defense attorney Dani Rollins.  Alone and adrift in a life full of booze and bad decisions, Dani gets a new client.  A couple brings in their adopted 17 year old son who is mentally challenged.  He has been arrested in the company of some other (non-mentally challenged) teens from his high school and charged with distribution of drugs.  Dani assumes the kid has been used by the other teens, although the police see it otherwise.  Things don't add up when her client is charged as an adult and faces a potentially long jail sentence.  In between brooding over her ex-husband's new wife an the son she has lost custody of, Dani begins an investigation which circuitously leads in a myriad of directions.  

     The setting is Salt Lake City and its surrounding counties.  This is a nice change from the usual Los Angeles or New York locales for mystery novels.  The author, a seasoned criminal-defense and civil-rights lawyer himself, deftly describes the peculiarities of the justice system in Utah.  The characters are all very human and very believable, although you want to smack Dani any number of times as she unleashes her temper and sarcasm in the courtroom.  Despite her faults, Dani has her client's best interests at heart.  The parents inexplicably abandon their handicapped son when he turns 18 and Dani takes him in until she can secure proper placement.  She works diligently to defend her client against odds which are stacked very high against him for reasons that initially are unclear.

     The ending has a neat twist of plot which was actually fairly predictable almost from the outset.  In retrospect, there were key clues in the early chapter describing Dani's initial consultation with this family.  I enjoyed A Gambler's Jury and found it to be a very worthy nominee for the 2019 Edgar for best mystery novel.  I will look forward to reading other books by this author. 

Book Review: Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosley (2019 Edgar Winner)

Down to the River unto the Sea

Author: Walter Mosley

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Date of Publication: February 20, 2018

Pages: 336

     Down to the River Unto the Sea is one of six novels nominated for the 2019 Best Mystery Novel Edgar Award.  The other five are: The Liar's Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard, House Witness by Mike Lawson, A Gambler's Jury by Victor Lethos, Only to Sleep by Lawrence Osborne, and A Treacherous Curse by Deanna Raybourne.  This is the third of the six which I have reviewed so far.

     Walter Mosley is a prolific and much admired author who has published over 43 books including the Easy Rawlins mysteries as well as short fiction and non-fiction.  He has won an O. Henry Award, a PEN American Lifetime Achievement Award and a Grammy.  This novel is the first to feature private investigator Joe King Oliver.

     Oliver is a former NYPD detective who lost his job as the result of a frame.  He is convinced he was set up by his former police brothers.  After incarceration he has worked for ten years as a PI in New York City (the author's hometown).  One day a young attorney comes to his office with evidence that a controversial social activist who is being tried for murdering two NYC police officers has also been framed.  There are enough similarities to Joe's own case that he decides to chase down the slim evidence and see if he can exonerate the accused cop-killer as well as clear his own name.

     The plot is a bit circuitous, to say the least, but does end in a satisfying albeit imperfect ending.  The writing in this novel is sparkling, especially when describing the characters:

"Juan was a smallish bronze-skinned man with a debonair mustache and eyes that had somewhere else to be."

or

"Willa departed, and for a while I was alone and at peace the way a soldier during World War I was at peace in the trenches waiting for the next attack, the final flu, or maybe mustard gas seeping over the edge of a trench that might be a grave."

Mosley also has a poetic way of describing places which adds deep atmosphere to the story and sets the tone for the scenes to follow:

"On the south side of the small town, there stood an abandoned church.  I say abandoned, but what I mean is deconsecrated.  It was surrounded by an eighteen-foot stone wall.  The only entree was through a remote-control iron gate.  The rectangular brick structure loomed at  a height of at least two and a half stories.  Twelve slender stained-glass windows ran from the ground to the eaves of the steeply slanted, dark-green-tiled roof.  On one end was a silo-like cylindrical steeple, also made of brick;  it rose ten feet above the rest of the structure.  There was a satellite dish at the very center of the extreme-angled lower roof."

     The author also has a keen eye for social issues.  He addresses sexism, police brutality and corruption, economic disparity and the insidious and subtle racism that still pervades our contemporary society.  He also wrestles with the very adult concepts of compromising your values to achieve the greater good and the fact that not all stories have happy or even satisfying conclusions.

   Read Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosley for the spectacular writing.  Read it because of the astute social commentaries contained within.  Read it because it is a great story.  Read it because it may very well be the 2019 Edgar Award winner for the best mystery novel of the year.  Just read it!

Addendum:  This novel was selected by the Mystery Writers of America as winner of the 2019 Edgar Award for the Best Mystery Novel of the year!

Book Review: House Witness by Mike Lawson (2019 Edgar Nominee - Best Novel)

House Witness

Author: Mike Lawson

Publisher: Grove/Atlantic Inc.

Date of Publication: February 6, 2018

Pages: 368

     This is one of the six nominated for the 2019 Best Novel Edgar Award by the Mystery Writer's of America.  I have previously read and reviewed The Liar's Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard.  House Witness is my early on favorite to win it (of course I need to read the other four).

    This book is primarily set in New York City and has a very intriguing premise.  How does a lawyer, no matter how good he is, get a jury to deliver a "Not Guilty" verdict in a murder trial when there are five credible eye witnesses who saw the accused shoot a man in a Manhattan bar?  That's the conundrum faced by attorney David Slade.  The only thing that his client, ne'er-do-well law school graduate (but can't pass the bar exam) Toby Rosenthal has going for him is that his corporate attorney Dad is filthy rich.  That's when Slade makes some discreet calls and hires the ultimate "jury consultants" Ella Fields and Bill Cantwell.

    Complicating the case is the fact that the victim, Dominic DiNunzio, is the illegitimate son of  the current minority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, John Mahoney and his former legislative assistant, who is now an influential political power broker in New York state.  Mahoney sends his own fixer, Joe DeMarco, to New York to ensure that Rosenthal is convicted.  A cat and mouse game ensues between DeMarco, Ella Fields and the five witnesses.

     The back stories of all of the main characters are cleverly introduced through flashbacks.  The story of Ella Fields is particularly captivating.  She is a small town country girl who won't accept her lot in life decides she wants a lot more.  She leaves her family and moves to the big city of Charleston, South Carolina.  She learns the ways of the more cultured and aristocratic, eventually catching the eye of Bill Cantwell, a disbarred lawyer who specializes in making impossible situations become possible .  Mike Lawson actually has you rooting for the bad guys (although who the bad guys are in this book is a fluid notion).  The plot is so believable, the characters are so exceptionally well developed, the pace is so fast (though not hurried) and the dialogue is so genuine that the book is nearly impossible to put down.  Add to this the New York setting and in my opinion you have the perfect crime novel!  If Ed McBain was alive and writing, he would have written House Witness.  This book is that good!

     There are ten more Joe DeMarco novels by Mike Lawson.  I'm tempted to punt the last four Edgar nominees and jump into the Lawson back list instead!

Book Review: The Liar's Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard (2019 Best Novel Edgar Award Nominee)

The Liar's Girl

Author: Catherine Ryan Howard

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Date of Publication: February 27, 2018

Pages: 332

     The Liar's Girl is one of six novels nominated for the 2019 Best Novel Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America.  It is the first of the six which I have read.  The author was born in Cork, Ireland in 1982 and graduated from Trinity College in Dublin.  This novel is set both in Cork and Dublin and the descriptions and settings ring with a clear authenticity.

     Howard is able to weave a very intricate and fast moving plot, telling the story in the present day as well as 10 years previous.  This is a serial killer story, but one that keeps you guessing until the very end.  The perpetrator was dubbed "The Canal Killer" because all of the young women were found drowned in the Grand Canal near elite St. John's College in Dublin.    Will Hurley was a St. John's student who is now serving life imprisonment in a psychiatric hospital after admitting to the murders.  His girlfriend at the time, a freshman from Cork named Allison Smith, has tried to build a new life in Amsterdam in the 10 years since the murders.

    The book opens with two new murders which closely resemble the original those of the original Canal Killer.  It is truly creepy and scary the way the new (?) Canal Killer uses social media to select and stalk his victims.The police try to enlist Will to help in the investigation, but he will only talk to Allison, who at first is reluctant to get involved.  Is this a copy cat at work, or is the wrong man in jail?  The author goes back and forth between the present day investigation and the time of the original killings.  The plot moves forward at a brisk pace and the author throws enough curve balls to keep the reader guessing.  The characters are very likable and the reader can't help but hope that Will is innocent.  Allison plays a pivotal role in the investigation of the contemporary crimes.  There is a very nice twist of plot at the end (although I did see it coming).

     I really enjoyed the author's descriptions of Dublin and Cork, two places I have never been but would love to visit.  They added a lot to what is a very enjoyable and entertaining mystery.  This is a worthy nominee for the 2019 Best Novel Edgar.   

Book Review: Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell

Murder As A Fine Art

Author: David Morrell

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Date of Publication: May 7, 2013

Pages: 358

     David Morrell has written a fantastic historical novel set in London in 1854.  The two main characters are Thomas and Emily De Quincey.  Thomas was a famous essayist, best known for his 1822 publication "Confessions of an English Opium Eater".  Emily was Thomas' youngest and only surviving child who helped care for the "Opium Eater" in his later years.  Although born into an aristocratic family, Thomas was never adept at finances and spent his younger years living on the streets of London.  In his later years, Thomas was almost always in steep debt, frequently running and hiding from creditors.  Emily was quite the non-comformist, refusing to wear the prescribed corsets and hoop skirts of the day in favor of more comfortable (and risque) "bloomers".  In a later and even more controversial essay,  "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts", De Quincey wrote a detailed account of the factual Ratcliffe Highway murders which terrorized London in the early 1800s.  This essay as well as other of De Quincey's writings have been said to have had a profound influence on Edgar Allan Poe as well as British writers such as George Orwell.  With this historical background, let's talk about this book!

     De Quincey and his daughter are invited to London, ostensibly to promote a new collection of essays.  Shortly after their return, a vicious multiple homicide occurs near the scene of the now decades old Ratcliffe Highway murders.  The circumstances and details are almost identical to the original crime.  Enter Detective Sean Ryan of Scotland Yard aided by a young, ambitious Constable Becker.  They become acutely aware of De Quincey's familiarity with the case.  Lacking a credible alibi Thomas De Quincey becomes Suspect #1.

     The plot leads the police as well as "the Opium Eater" and his daughter through all of London.  The city is described in graphic detail, including the homeless and destitute living on the streets and under bridges and the coal dust which covers the entire city including the more prestigious neighborhoods.  Like the more contemporary novel The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz, the city of London itself becomes a major part of the novel.  It was fun to read these books back to back (especially just after a trip to London) as it describes many of the same areas nearly a century and a half apart!

     The minor characters are all well developed as well, especially Emily De Quincey and the young Irish detective Sean Ryan.  There seems to be a real chemistry between the two which never really goes anywhere.  Maybe this will progress in the two sequels, Inspector of the Dead and Ruler of the Night.  

     A note of caution to the faint of heart: the violent scenes in this novel are very graphic and disturbing.  No details are left to the imagination!
Detective Inspector Sean Ryan and constable Becker
Detective Inspector Sean Ryan and constable Becker
Detective Inspector Sean Ryan and constable Becker

     Murder as a Fine Art is a well plotted, fast moving and entertaining mystery novel with excellent writing and engaging characters.  It was a fantastic series debut and I can't wait to read the next two installments!

Thomas De Quincey

Book Review: The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

The Word is Murder

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher

Date of Publication: June 5, 2018

Pages: 400

     This novel represents a truly unique take on the thriller/mystery genre.  The premise is intriguing: An older lady calmly walks into a London undertaker and plans her own funeral.  Later that night she is strangled in her home.  The victim's son is a very famous theater and movie star who currently lives in Los Angeles.  The celebrity factor of this murder puts added pressure on the London police who have no clue as to who might have been the murderer.  The police hire Daniel Hawthorne, a master detective but difficult and flawed human being.  Hawthorne was fired by Scotland Yard years before for reasons that don't become clear until mid-way in the story.  The dishonored detective is used frequently as a consultant, especially on hard to solve and high profile cases.  Needing income, Hawthorne wants a writer to follow him along on this case to document things and eventually write a book about the case.  In a very interesting plot device, Hawthorne hires Anthony Horowitz!  The author puts himself in the fictional story as a first person narrator.  It sounds like a weird contrivance, but it works and it works splendidly!

     The author becomes Watson to Hawthorne's Holmes, at times becoming a detective himself as he tries to learn more about his reclusive subject and solve the case at the same time.  The two main characters don't particularly like each other which adds tension and some humor to the story line.  Hawthorne and Horowitz, working together cover great portions of London tracking down clues and suspects.  The two become competitive at one point and go in different directions to attempt to one-up each other.  Years prior to the current murder, the victim was a driver in a hit and run accident which resulted in the death of a toddler.  This sets the stage for a revenge motive which the detective and writer explore at great lengths.  There are other suspects and motives which are cleverly woven into this complex but entertaining plot line.  The story comes to a surprising and frightening conclusion, complete with a dramatic rescue.

     Modern London is also a star in this novel.  Horowitz has a keen eye for detail and enables the reader to feel as if he has been to that marvelous city.  Having just returned from a vacation in London and Liverpool, I was entertained by the descriptions of the many neighborhoods and districts of London traversed by the two main characters. 

     This is the first of a planned Daniel Hawthorne series and I look forward to future installments.  The Word is Murder is fantastic start to what I hope becomes a long series.

Book Review: Her Every Fear by Peter Swanson

Her Every Fear

Author: Peter Swanson

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Date of Publication: January 10, 2017

Pages: 352

     Peter Swanson is rapidly climbing my favorite author list.  He's not quite up there with Michael Connelley but he's getting there!  I first read The Girl with a Clock for a Heart about a year ago,then devoured The Kind Worth Killing and now Her Every Fear.  Each of these books shares common traits.  All three have intricate, twisting and unpredictable plots.  The author was educated in Mssachusetts and now lives in Somerset.  Each of these stories is mainly set in Boston, a town the author obviously knows very well..  The characters in all of the novels are flawed "everymen and everywomen" who can be identified with.They each have a different but very unique premise.  This book has the most despicable villains.  Another cool feature is that the author pays homage to previous thriller and mystery writers by having his characters read time-honored novels.  Peter Swanson also has a great respect for all things Alfred Hitchcock.  Her Every Fear pays tribute to Hitchcock's classic "Rear Window".

    Kate Priddy is a young British woman recovering from a trauma inflicted by an ex-boyfriend  After months of therapy she agrees to trade apartments for six months with a distant male cousin from Boston whom she has never met.  The day Kate moves into his Beacon Hill apartment a dead woman named Audrey Marshall is found in the adjacent apartment.  The ensemble cast of characters includes a creepy man who has been stalking the now dead woman, some quite eccentric older apartment residents and the cousin who may have been involved romantically with the murdered neighbor.  The cousin's former college roommate surfaces from time to time as well.  The murky plot moves along at a slow but steady pace and has plenty of unanticipated twists and turns.  Just when you think you have everything figured out something unravels and you have to rethink things.  So, who killed Audrey Marshall?  You have to read the whole book to find out!

     Go get a book by Peter Swanson and read it.  It doesn't matter which one.  They are totally independent stories (albeit with some common structural features) and they are all equally good.

Book Review: Idaho by Emily Ruskovich

Idaho

Author: Emily Ruskovich

Publisher: Gale Group

Date of Publication: November 7, 2017

Pages: 336

  I am honestly not completely sure how I feel about this book.  I read it because it was nominated for the Best First Novel by an American Author Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America (it eventually lost that honor to She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper).  Also, one of the main characters suffers from hereditary pre-senile dementia.  My mother died of complications of Alzheimer's disease, so memory loss and literary depictions of it interest me.  Then, reading little bits of this I realized that Emily Ruskovich is a very talented writer and her lyrical writing style drew me in.  So, it was with great anticipation that I began reading Idaho.

   For starters, the writing does not disappoint.  The author maintains a very high level of interesting and eloquent descriptions, especially of the harsh life in the Montana mountains.  Her characters are complex and intriguing, even mysterious at times.  The main two characters, Wade (who spirals downward with dementia) and his second wife Ann, are unforgettable.  The author deftly reveals tragedy after tragedy in each of their lives.  It is obvious early on that something horrible happened between Wade and his first wife Jenny.  The central theme is Ann trying to decipher exactly what happened and how.  The cause of death of one of Wade and Jenny's daughters and the disappearance of the other are the central mysteries of Idaho.

     The book succeeds magnificently in its depiction of dementia, not only in how the sufferer feels and copes but in how the disease devastates the lives of those who care about them.  The angst Wade feels as he realizes he is losing his grip on reality and the terror Ann experiences as Wade becomes violent and dangerous are gripping.

     My only gripe about Idaho, but it is a major one, is that there is a very open ending to the story.  Maybe the author is leaving room for a sequel or maybe she wants us to use our own imagination to finish the story.  I was a bit angry at the end that there were so many loose ends.  But maybe that's just me.  This book is very valuable in its depiction of a desperate dementia patient and the devastating impact on his family and community.  For those who have not lived with this first-hand, Idaho gives very empathetic insights into what is becoming a very common crisis.