Novels No. 103

 

Tom Baragwanath. Paper Cage. Australia: The Text Publishing Company, 2022.

Alert: the novel describes the deep racism between two cultures; it can be disturbing.

A New Zealand town. It has a defined neighbourhood of aboriginal residents where half-Maori Sheena Henry lives with Keith Makara, leader of a gang called the Mongrels. Their young son Bradley is a shining light for his great-aunt Lorraine Henry who regrets that the drug of choice in the home seems to be crystal meth—great quantities being available among the Maori gangs. Our narrator Lorraine works as a clerk for the local police station, deploring the environment her beloved Bradley lives in; she loves Sheena but resents Keith’s bad influence and is not always welcome in their surroundings. When Bradley is the third child in that area to disappear completely, Lorraine turns sleuth whether Chief Ambrose likes it or not.

The small police station is supplemented by Detective Justin Hayes from Wellington, joining the search for missing children. He’s a man who appreciates Lorraine’s knowledge of both the police files and the local tensions. Are the kids being used as pawns in a drug war? Keith seems as frantic as they are to find his son but he won’t cooperate with any gang information. Lorraine’s good friend Patty provides welcome support, but our two dedicated hunters are walking straight into murder and mayhem and heart-stopping moments. Many words and terms are colloquial, e.g. “patched” is a gang member; “faheka” is a non-aboriginal person, such as Lorraine (please forgive the absence of diacritical marks.)

The entire landscape comes alive with this talented author’s words, and he’s beautifully drawn an introspective voice for Lorraine. Love and loyalty, death and despair; nothing will stop this woman from bringing Bradley home to his family. Yet that presents a conflict between family solidarity and a child’s best interests. Moreover, there’s tragedy in the apparently irreconcilable extremes of mistrust when people try to justify violent actions.

Pokes

▪ It’s a plastic bag, almost empty, the powder inside like shards of dark sugar. The red lines at the edges of Sheena’s eyes. (40)

▪ “He damn near killed a guy, Sheena!” I point through the window. “Right outside, remember?” (42)

▪ “You want to share a roof with Sheena, that’s her call. But if I hear of any more patched stuff going on around Bradley, it won’t be like last time.” (44)

▪ It’s like Patty says, it’s a wonder they can keep track of their kids at all, that lot. (50)

▪ “But this whole turf war idea doesn’t hang together. You know it doesn’t.” (67)

▪ Us and them, Aunty or no, it’s still the same. Our kids might be missing, the answer just one locked door away, but these are lines that won’t be redrawn. (82)

▪ He takes a bite, chewing deliberately. “Most love is about fear, you know.” (96)

▪ The shotgun barrel swings back to me and there’s a blinding flash, a hundred sunrises flaring all at once. (122)

▪ “They’re taking from you, taking all the time. They take so much, I wonder what’s left for yourself.” (187)

Shari Lapena. A Stranger in the House. Canada: Doubleday Canada, 2017.

After struggling with Abbott Kahler’s mirror-image twins in Where You End (gave up p. 116), this Lapena novel was a relief: steady, straightforward, and somewhat predictable. Karen Krupp crashed her car at high speed in a panic one night, now recovering from her bangs and bruises but with total amnesia of the whole event. She comes under suspicion when a murdered man is discovered near where she crashed. Detectives Rasbach and Jennings believe the amnesia is fake despite the medical opinion; they find evidence she had been at the site. Even husband Tom is beginning to doubt her diagnosis because even after she’s recovered, Karen is acting strangely jumpy. So many times the couple declare their love for each other, but the words have no impact without character development.

Something is bothering Karen, and it apparently precedes the fatal night. Good friend and neighbour Brigid Cruikshank is acting strangely too. Unable to conceive a child that she’d love to have, Brigid has too much time on her hands while husband Bob spends most of his time tending to his funeral home business. Everyone has secrets, of course, and the pace only picks up when Karen secretly recovers most of her memory. Lawyer Jack Calvin is needed because Karen is about to be arrested and Tom is about to be shocked. Why passively cringing Tom is an object of desire for two women eludes me.

The lack of character insight makes for a tedious journey through a predictable plot with moments that seem artificially contrived. Far too much dwelling on anxious thoughts and unspecified fears. My “relief” was brief; it’s disappointing, unlike other Lapena books I’ve read.

Snips

▪ “Yeah, well, lots of housewives have a secret drug habit that hubbie knows nothing about,” Kirkton says. (16)

▪ Karen knows that whatever kind of trouble she might be in, Brigid would drop everything and race to her side. (60)

▪ He remembers the ease with which his wife lied to them about the gloves. In contrast, he had lied badly, and they all knew it. (92)

▪ She really isn’t the woman he thought she was. She’s much tougher, much harder, and much more damaged than he ever suspected. (191)

▪ His world is coming completely apart. He doesn’t know what to do, how to act. (194)

▪ If she were alone in this room with Rasbach, she might make a mistake. But Calvin is here to make sure that doesn’t happen. (196)

▪ What if she visits Karen in jail and tells her what he did? (223)

Novels No. 102

 

Ragnar Jonasson. The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer. 2023. USA: Minotaur Books, tr. 2025.

[in-house filler] Helgi is a great fan of crime fiction, collecting books wherever he goes. He also happens to be a policeman in Reykjavik, working in an office once the domain of recently retired Hulda. His new case involves Iceland’s most famous crime fiction author – Elin Jonsdottir – gone inexplicably missing. The usual police process takes place quietly somewhere in the background but the focus is on Helgi’s movements and thoughts (it’s amazing that he finds time to read classic detective works during the investigation), lacking real clues. At the same time, he’s curious about the quiet disappearance of his predecessor Hulda. And lest we think Helgi is your typical alpha-male cop, we know his ex-girlfriend Bergthora often physically attacked him in drunken rages; he’s ashamed he put up with her abuse for so long. After he finally left her, she is stalking Anita, his lovely new girlfriend.

Interspersed throughout are excerpts from a taped interview with Elin by an unnamed journalist. Plus, we have back stories lurking about an old bank robbery and Hulda’s struggles in a misogynistic career environment. And who is Marteinn Einarsson?—another crime writer, popular, but not quite Elin’s calibre. Elin had contentedly retired when her ten-book series was completed. Elin’s lawyer Baldur reluctantly provides the clue that ignites Helgi’s investigation while he deals with her old friends and her publisher Rut.

Not your average format, with an unusual policeman. No peers in sight, no office politics. Helgi’s happy relationship with Anita underscores a fear of loneliness among most characters. The twists come thick and fast, then a cliffhanging climax. Jonasson is a veteran author; his prior series feature Hulda (Hidden Iceland trilogy). I’m looking for more.

Bits

▪ This was what it was all about: the chance to tackle demanding cases, under pressure, and emerge victorious. (19, Helgi)

▪ “Live life well, you said, but sometimes we need to break with habit, smash a few eggs along the way, do something unexpected.” (22, Elin)

▪ Suddenly she was running for her life, not daring to glance over her shoulder to check if anyone was in pursuit. (114, Anita)

▪ Her target was obviously him, not Anita. She intended to go on making his life unbearable, poisoning the very air until he was struggling to breathe. (136, Helgi)

▪ He was exasperated with Rut for withholding such an important piece of evidence. And now he wanted more than anything to read the manuscript. (227, Helgi)

▪ “The interview has been preying on my mind ever since you told me yesterday that Elin had gone missing.” (246, Kristin)

Jonathan Kellerman. Serpentine. USA: Ballantine Books, 2021.

[another in-house grab] Must be years since I read a Kellerman, but here’s the old familiar duo of psychologist Dr Alex Delaware assisting L.A. detective Milo Sturgis. The two often interact like comedians in their own abbreviated language. Milo’s been given a doozy cold case going back almost forty years: Dorothy Swoboda died in a fiery car accident but it didn’t destroy the bullet in her skull that the then-investigation ignored. Now her daughter Ellie Barker, who had been three years old at the time, wants to learn the truth. Pulling political strings, she has Milo’s boss order him to take it on. Right from the start, it’s a messy, puzzling case where other suspicious deaths followed Dorothy’s. Three previous detectives had failed to solve it; or, pressure was applied by parties unknown to remove them from it? Only retired cop Dudley Galoway is still alive to recall small details.

Records have disappeared and so many principals are dead. After Dorothy, death followed at different times for her angry husband Stanley; her more recent wealthy boyfriend Anton Des Barres; Anton’s second wife Arlette; and earlier detectives McClatchy and Seeger. Interviews with Anton’s three adult children and anyone who knew the family relate their father’s mid-life metamorphosis into bizarre behaviour with a series of dubious women. Only the most skilled investigator could make any sense out of numerous characters that appeared over the forty year period—not to mention missing women—and come up with a viable suspect. Even while the pressure is on to solve it, from police superiors and Ellie, someone else is attempting to chase our guys off the case.

Mercifully, the frustrating hunt for Dorothy’s killer is leavened by the Sturgis-and-Delaware banter, bouncing theories off each other. Vivid locales around the extensive L.A. area and its traffic are a feature of its own. Dorothy’s necklace of serpentine stone provides one tiny clue; Serpentine the book provides more than satisfactory entertainment.

Overheard

▪ “I didn’t push the bio-dad issue because he already looked pretty stricken and I didn’t want to hurt him.” (18)

▪ “Take a look around, my friend. You see any addresses? Only thing I had to go on was Seeger’s notes.” (61)

▪ “My sister said something about a woman who lived with our father umpteen years ago.” (123)

▪ “Strictly speaking, Arlette wasn’t followed. But someone rode into the forest soon after her.” (147)

▪ “It’s like they’re blow-up dolls. He’s into control.” (167)

▪ Her eyes got wet. Several tears got loose. “This is only the second photo I’ve seen of her.” (180)

▪ “Here’s what he said: ‘Bring the devil into your home, you’re the devil’s disciple.’” (192)

▪ “I got nearly identical tips from two sources about a girl named Benni.” (247)

Novels No. 101

 

Abigail Dean. The Death of Us. USA: Viking, 2025.

To begin with, Dean plays it cool and cryptic with main characters Isabel and Edward so their relationship is confusing. What is clear is that the serial “South London Invader” – Nigel Wood – is about to be sentenced for numerous crimes including murder, dating as far back as twenty-five years. After selecting and spying on his victims, Wood notoriously invaded homes at night in order to terrorize a husband-and-wife couple—restraining the man, raping the woman. Escalation then moved to killing his victims. The sentencing hearing involves many victim impact statements, Edward and Isabel included. Crowds of people are in attendance, some having come long distances. Edward plans to be one of the courtroom speakers; will he finally be able to articulate what he can’t express to Isabel?

Isabel (in 1^st person) and Edward (3^rd person) take turns to narrate the story—their history together and apart. Since Wood was not caught for years while repeating his crimes, the victims’ psychological damage was rarely healing. Support groups and friends do their best. Through that time, Detective Etta Elioglu was the only police to recognize the same-perpetrator aspect of the crimes, working persistently to try to identify him. Among the avid media, journalist Royce is the most obsessed with the magnitude of the drama. Isabel’s portion of the book’s narrative addresses Wood directly; this is her impact statement—will she ever be rid of him?—how she and Edward could not speak of it to each other, thereafter failing to communicate the necessary comfort.

Human nature can respond variously to an external imposition of impotence. With skilled insight, Dean has crafted how a mystery was solved, but more: a profound love story that weaves before and after the fatal night.

Isabel

▪ “I cannot conceive of the idea,” Etta said, “that these are his first attacks.” (72)

▪ You moved the knife to the corner of my eye, and you said, to Edward: “Shut the fuck up. Come here. You’ll tie her up for me.” (111)

▪ “It may not feel like it, just now. But you’ve been injured. You’ve been traumatised.” (125)

▪ I spoke to Patrick Royce, Etta’s first choice, the same man who had followed us to France and made a career of South London Invader speculation. (245)

Edward

▪ That was the only way Edward could live, believing that he had faced something inhuman and undefeatable. (29)

▪ “Some records referred to a support group for the Invader’s male victims. Something Elioglu thought she’d set up.” (39)

▪ Isabel was good at not appearing to be frightened, but she always was, and he knew this because he was, too. (178)

 ▪ How was he supposed to stand before a judge who had read his name in a newspaper just that morning? How was he to instruct associates, interns, secretaries, knowing how they talked? (209)

Charlie Donlea. Guess Again. USA: Kensington Publishing Corp., 2025.

You have to buy into forty-five-year-old Ethan Hall being, first, a highly successful detective with the state Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) for ten years, then retraining to become a highly successful emergency room doctor. Ethan is much happier helping people than witnessing the carnage caused by bad guys. But his former partner, Pete Kramer, and state governor Mark Jones convince him to investigate the cold case of the governor’s daughter who went missing ten years ago. Callie Jones was a high school student at the time; we know (Ethan doesn’t) that Callie had been having a secret affair with her school sports coach, Blake Cordis. Over thirty years ago, Francis Bernard was suspected but never charged for the “Lake Michigan Massacres”—a series of young women murdered and left on a beach. Instead, Bernard was arrested and convicted of killing policeman Henry Hall, Ethan’s father. Oddly, it’s devious Bernard – locked up in prison – who gives Ethan a clue to Callie’s case.

Moreover, we also know that a mystery figure named Eugenia Morgan is able to communicate with and follow instructions from Bernard. Examining what’s known about Callie’s last day before vanishing, Ethan will try to find her old friends, her sister Jaycee, and others to interview—but it’s all been done before. Area newcomer Christian Malone provides extra-special tech assistance; Dr Lindsay Larkin provides psychological expertise; and Ethan’s girlfriend, city detective Maddie Johnson doesn’t doubt that Bernard will find a way to kill her. Ethan finds himself dealing with more than one surprising crime. Good title!

Each chapter is tightly constructed for creating maximum suspense, but please—an entire chapter in italics (small-ish font)? Annoying, and breaks the rhythm. Compelling as it is, the story has several moments or occurrences hard to swallow; nevertheless, you’ll be guessing again and again.

Bits

▪ Her therapist called it an obsession. The medical term was hybristophilia. But Eugenia knew she suffered from neither obsession nor a medical condition. She was in love. (44)

▪ “It’s sad, really. You’re so lost you have to ask your father’s killer for directions.” (108)

▪ “You were in prison for more than twenty years when Callie went missing.” (146)

▪ “How I know is immaterial. What I know is crucial. And most importantly, what I want in exchange for that information.” (146)

▪ She climbed through the window, carrying with her a Callaway 9-iron golf club, and headed straight for his office. (183)

▪ Months of planning had shrunk to weeks. Weeks to days. And now mere hours stood in the way of their new beginning together. (224)

▪ “Maddie doesn’t need a gimp DCI agent to protect her. She’s got round-the-clock protection from Milwaukee PD.” (254-5)

Novels No. 100

 A lovely round number, representing about two hundred reviews since the beginning of 2023 (when the blog title changed midway that year to Mostly Crime Fiction). A celebration of sorts, at least a tribute to late-night reading in bed. The reading for No. 100 was mostly 2025 but posting in 2026. I call them “reviews” loosely, because I recognize that they are basically teasers with a few opinions and no spoilers. My personal reminders of time well spent. 

Michael Connelly. The Gods of Guilt. USA: Little, Brown and Company, 2013.

(Still with in-house book finds; my TPL orders are moving like molasses or not even in transit yet!)

Here’s Mickey Haller, the original “Lincoln lawyer”—must be a book I missed way back then, although I’d read a few in the series. Right off, Mickey notes that publicity about himself and a film based on his activities, have inspired a number of would-be clones: curbside competitors. However, an accused murderer with financial means is the most desirable client for a defense attorney, and Mickey meets Andre La Cosse. Andre with no acute accent. He’s charged with the murder of Giselle Dallinger, who provided escort services facilitated by La Cosse. Mickey’s team gets their assignments, with investigator Cisco researching both victim and client—who pays in gold bars!

The gods of guilt are the jurors in a case who hold life-changing power, sometimes life or death. But it’s Mickey who constantly feels guilt over unforeseen consequences from some of his legal actions—his estranged daughter, Gloria’s death, putting his team in harm’s way, the list goes on. Preparing La Cosse’s defense has led to an incredible tangle of people with sinister agendas, from an incarcerated cartel member to a rogue government agent. Efforts to destroy his trial strategy can often be managed, but mortal threats to get rid of Mickey altogether are harder to deal with. He needs to stay alive throughout, after which he must follow with a second, equally critical court matter.

Connelly immerses us in another world where both legal and criminal personalities mix in countless fascinating interactions. No one does courtroom better, at the same time helping us understand the process and the negotiations. And glib but articulate, thick-skinned but sensitive, Mickey is hard to resist.

Peeks

▪ The photos were airbrushed, the hair was different, and a plastic surgeon had gone to work since I had last seen her, but I had no doubt that Giselle Dallinger was my former client Gloria Dayton. (35)

▪ “She said he didn’t pay because there was nobody in that room. She said they told her at the desk the guy checked out that day, and I knew that was bullshit because I talked to him in that room.” (62)

▪ “We were just talking once and she mentioned you. You know, like if anything happens to me, then Mickey Mantle will go to bat for me.” (103)

▪ “I have no idea!” she yelled. “Didn’t you hear anything I just said? I am not in the life anymore!” (121)

▪ “You yourself just asked why Moya would wait seven years to exact vengeance. I don’t think he did. Gloria’s death is a big loss to him.” (158)

▪ I knew right away he was dead. He must’ve been thrown clear and then the car rolled over him. (229)

▪ “We believe, based on the facts brought forward, that Gloria Dayton was a DEA informant and that she planted the gun in Mr. Moya’s room on the orders of her DEA handler.” (262-3)

▪ “Mr. Lankford is one of the main investigators on this case and the defense is allowed to vigorously question how the state gathers and analyzes evidence and the statements of witnesses.” (295)

Karin Slaughter. Pieces of Her. USA: William Morrow, 2018

By all accounts Andrea (Andy) is a thirty-year-old loser, sleepwalking her way through a disappointing life wherein she seems incapable of any independent action. For about the first ninety pages she rarely even speaks, although her inner voice is emotionally active. When her mother Laura Oliver stops a manic killer in a mall from shooting more people, Andy is overcome with terror and confusion. Bodies, blood, police, hospital, and mom—having displayed skills and coolness never witnessed before. Before the day is over, Andy’s mother had become an unfamiliar stranger to her, and a victim in a brutal attack, issuing escape instructions to her daughter. For once, Andy is forced to act on her own.

Suddenly, shockingly, we are back in 1986 where forty-three-year-old Laura Juneau is about to commit a very public murder—revenge for the loss of her family due to corporate neglect by Querelle Healthcare. Who is this Laura?! CEO Martin Querelle’s children Andrew and Jane are secretly committed to an anarchist group headed by the eloquent Nick Harp; Jane is in thrall to him, as are all the others, despite her moments of rational sanity. Nick’s “army” is planning and executing spectacular, attention-getting explosions. The parallel stories will merge, cloaked in mystifying riddles. Andy’s initiative to discover her mother’s true history is dangerous but arouses her best abilities.

Physical beatings occur rather too often for my sensibilities, like how do these people carry on? But author Slaughter never loses the suspense in this very densely packed novel—a brilliant take on a slice of America. [Sadly, an off of writer.]

Andy

▪ “I dunno, it’s weird to watch her on the video because, you’re like, wow, that’s Mrs. Oliver, but it’s like in Kill Bill where the mom is all normal in front of her kid but she’s secretly a killing machine.” (70)

▪ He could be inside, waiting for Andy. He could be killing Laura right now. He could rape Andy. He could kill her in front of her mother. (88)

▪ “Don’t come home until you hear from me, okay? Only respond to my voice, my actual voice, saying these exact words: ‘It’s safe to come home now.’ Do you understand? Andy?” (98)

▪ Every single inch of Andy’s body wanted him. She had never been so overcome with lust. (199)

▪ Why had Laura lied to her? Who was she so afraid of? Why had she told Andy to go to Idaho? (272)

▪ Paula said, “She was never as timid as you. Must get that from your father?” (283)

Jane

▪ The shock of truthfulness brought an image to Laura’s mind: Jinx Queller at the piano, the entire audience held rapt as her hands floated across the keyboard. (142)

▪ Queller had made hundreds of thousands of dollars off of Robert Juneau’s death. (251)

▪ Nick’s fist snaked out, punching Maplecroft square in the face. (296)

▪ This had crossed the line of insanity. They were all psychotic. Every single one of them. “How could you?” she asked Nick. (297-8)

▪ “He’s your best friend.” Her voice was no more than a whisper. “He’s my brother.” (332)

▪ “How does it feel to suffocate, darling? Is it everything you imagined?” (335)

Novels No. 99

 

Jessie Garcia. The Business Trip. Large print. USA: Thorndike Press, 2024.

Two women again. Jasmine is flying to Denver to escape abusive boyfriend Glenn; she secretly saved money for a long time, to be able to sneak away in the middle of the night. Stephanie is flying via Denver to a business conference in San Diego; she’s a busy, responsible television news director. Jasmine’s friend Anna wants to hear that she’s safe, wherever she went. Stephanie’s great friend Robert cares for her cat while she’s away. Both travellers are slow to respond to texts, but Stephanie sends Robert photos, post-conference, of an Atlanta condo—belonging to Trent McCarthy where she hooked up with him for a week! Anna finally hears from Jasmine who’s enthralled with a man she met, Trent McCarthy! How creepy is that? Jasmine and Anna’s longtime friend Raven happens to live in Atlanta in petty criminal activities.

Stephanie’s uncharacteristic leave of absence has colleagues Bruce, Nora, Dave, and Lucy puzzled, and even more so when they realize it’s not Stephanie texting them. Robert joins the television station group, all worried about her safety. So many questions. A quick decision has Robert and Lucy flying to Atlanta to see that condo—the only clue they have. But too late. The place is a crime scene, and police say the victims are Stephanie and Jasmine. The narrative then switches to the egotistical, obnoxious McCarthy, news director at Atlanta’s premier TV station; when arrested, he denies any involvement with the women. Changing narrators push the plot forward.

Baffling is the first way to describe this plot, then come Machiavellian and chilling. Yet the endless details of a crime to me felt rather demoralising—and that’s exactly where the suspense lies. I suppose it depends on how much empathy you develop for the main characters.

Peeks

▪ Mom had three kids with three different men, and for some reason she decided early on that I was the bad seed. (17 Jasmine)

▪ Jasmine was talking to other women about me and calling me an asshole? After all I did for her?? (99)

▪ “Lots of cop cars, I can only get a block away.” (166)

▪ “Do you want to explain why a woman’s phone, wallet, and jewelry were buried in your backyard?” (241)

▪ “Bill, this is the most asinine, ridiculous, insane, warped, twisted, fucked up — pardon my French — thing ever. You know I’m 100 percent innocent. I did nothing.” (258)

▪ My newly forming plan would be payback for every woman out there who had to deal with guys like him everywhere. (375)

▪ “I do what I have to do to make money ... and to keep out of jail,” she laughed. “Been there once. I will do anything not to go back, and I do mean anything.” (407)

Harlan Coben. Stay Close. 2012. USA: Dutton paperback, 2019.

(In-house grab; good old reliable Coben) Sarah Green’s husband Stewart went missing seventeen years ago; now Carlton Flynn has similarly disappeared. Both were known at La Crème strip club as obsessive and heavy-handed with the women entertainers. The stripper/party girl known as Cassie vanished the same night Stewart Green was last seen. But whoa, we know that since then, Cassie reverted to her real name of Megan, becoming a loving wife (Dave) and mother (Kaylie and Jordan). Domestic bliss aside, Megan sometimes feels a hankering for those old exciting, fun-filled times. And for the photographer she loved, Ray, whose life went downhill after she was gone. She never saw him after that, keeping her old identity well hidden. Detective Broome is on Flynn’s case, wondering why both missing men—even so far apart in time—disappeared on the same exact February day.

Ray and Megan, independently and for different reasons, assist Broome’s investigation; Ray has a photo of Flynn taken in his last known location—the same place where Cassie last saw Stewart. Mix it up with a corrupt police chief, a kind lawyer, multiple missing men, and a living-breathing-scary Barbie doll, and you’ve got as many questions as Detective Broome has. Megan is trying to protect her family from the results of her secrets until a stalker confronts her in one of the fiercest fights I’ve ever read. Secrets turn into targets for death and a serial killer is not the only criminal.

Coben delves into the intricate motives of the human heart while he spins a murderous love story on more than one level. Boffo!

Bits

▪ “Many of these men ... well, no one is looking for them. No one wants to find them.” (35)

▪ The air always crackled around Cassie. There was fun and wildness and spontaneity, and there was warmth and kindness and intelligence. (39-40)

▪ “When you first saw us,” Barbie said, “you thought we were angels sent to save you.” (98)

▪ If there were holes in her story—and there were—Dave never looked too closely at them. He was both a trusting soul and in love. (117)

▪ She had been crazy about him. He had been crazy about her. They didn’t so much break up as get ripped apart. (128)

▪ Their victims—if that was the right word—were scum. Ken and Barbie hurt them, yes, but none were pure or undeserving. (152)

▪ Goldberg nudged him aside and put on a pair of glasses. When his gaze landed on the sketch of the young couple, his body convulsed as though he’d been zapped with a stun gun. (244)

▪ She was livid with herself for not appreciating what she had, for needing to poke at the past, for not understanding that a certain amount of dissatisfaction was part of the human experience—and mostly, she was pissed off that this stupid blond bitch wanted to kill her. (315)

Novels No. 98

 

Megan Lally. That’s Not My Name. USA: Sourcebooks, 2024.

An in-house grab, and an author new to me. Quite the plot: Teenage girl suffers unknown bad experience, awakes in a ditch with total amnesia. Found by an unusually caring policeman, she’s bruised and bloody, traumatized by her loss of memory. Wayne Boone arrives later that night at the rural police station in a panic, reporting his missing daughter Mary. During home renovations the two have been living in a comfortable woodsy cabin. After Wayne produces appropriate proof and they leave, “Mary” finds him genuinely devoted to her, gently coaching her in all things forgotten. It’s a whole new learning experience, but Wayne still seems a stranger somehow. Occasionally she has a memory flash that makes no sense to her, or an uneasy feeling about something she’s told of her past life.

In another part of Oregon, young Drew is heartbroken over the inexplicable disappearance of his girlfriend Lola; police chief Roane and most of the town believe Drew harmed her, with no evidence. Guilt is an overriding factor for Drew. After several weeks of no contact, the general feeling is that she’s dead. Until Drew learns that Lola was spotted in a town a few hours away. He’s off with two friends to investigate, to assuage his guilt about arguing with Lola, and to prove his faith that she’s alive. We know these two threads will somehow mesh, right? But it’s trickier than that.

Lally has concocted a great plot with perfect pacing but I have to say a few things didn’t sit well with me. Better editing would have eliminated misplaced punctuation marks and clarified a few chronological details. Some intriguing or inconsistent points are never addressed—how did Mary end up in a ditch; where was/is her car; what was the kidnap plan; how did Roane make himself a hero? And if the author thinks that Benadryl relieves anaphylaxis, she may help someone die instead of rescuing them.

Mary’s orbit

▪ “Oh my god. I’ve been looking for you for hours. Are you okay? What happened to your face?” He says all this in one breath. (14)

▪ I wonder what that’ll be like though, rummaging through boxes of my things. Will they feel like mine? Or will everything be like that floral jacket, and throw me off even more? (64)

▪ “I’ll pay more attention the next time we pick out clothes. You can’t remember. You don’t know the rules.” (97)

▪ I look up at Wayne and claw at my itching throat. A wordless plea for help. (99)

▪ He has a picture of her? Of the mom I can’t remember? And he waited until now to show it to me? (144)

Drew’s orbit

▪ “We need closure, especially her parents, and you’d be doing the whole town a kindness by telling the truth about what happened.” (68)

▪ “Why’d she walk home, Drew? What made her get out of your car?” (80)

▪ I’ll never give up on Lola, but how am I supposed to fight for her and for myself at the same time? Roane said I was their last suspect. (103)

▪ If they knew what I did, they’d never forgive me. (107)

▪ Nothing is worse than losing Lola and having to wake up every morning not knowing if she’s dead or alive. (224)

Ashley Flowers. The Missing Half. Large print. USA: Random House, 2025.

Another popular trope for crime writers: the missing sister. Narrator Nicole (“Nic”) Monroe has been a walking disaster since her sister Kasey vanished seven years ago; the two had been closer than twins. Now Nic is pulling her life together when Jenna Connor wants to team up for answers—her sister Jules vanished the same way, a few weeks earlier than Kasey, car and personal belongings abandoned on a country road. Both young women were from the same Indiana town but the police found no connection between them and no clues. Nic reluctantly joins the super-organized Jenna, and they do find a slight connection that leads to former friends or co-workers of the missing sisters. Whereas Nic tends to let her emotions rule when interviewing people, Jenna employs tact.

As close as Kasey and Nic had been, Nic is sadly learning that Kasey hadn’t shared everything going on in her life. Old friend Lauren inadvertently opens the door to new and scary territory. Bar manager Steve McLean comes under their suspicion, but threats against the investigating pair seem to originate nearer to home. They become certain that the missing women were involved in some mysterious activity. When Jenna retreats from what has become a good working partnership, something is not adding up, as Nic likes to say. Faced with the mission alone, Nic reverts to her former self-destructive behaviour, overcome with confusion and anger.

The author deftly reveals each clue as it comes and its consequences; she also gives a visceral portrayal of grief and self-loathing. However, what I felt was akin to disappointment with how the ultimate mystery works out. Maybe it was too much detail as a sort of justification at the end, or the lack of a traditional villain.

Feels

▪ Over time, my grief has morphed to anger. Now it lives just beneath my skin. Prick it and I bleed. (10)

▪ She has spent almost her entire adult life looking for her sister, while all I’ve done is numb myself. (42)

▪ Steve McLean is all over the internet. Lauren only knew the tip of the iceberg. (104)

▪ “What did you do to her?” I say, my voice trembling with rage. “What did you do to my sister?” (140)

▪ All of Kasey’s lies are spinning into one enormous tornado in my head. (166)

▪ “Will you be honest? Did something else happen this week? Did someone try to scare you?” (226)

▪ “If she ended things with him, what was she doing here the night she went missing?” (242)

▪ “Please step out of your vehicle. You’re under arrest.” (257)

Novels No. 97

 

Michael Connelly. Nightshade. USA: Little, Brown and Company, 2025.

Delicious! Connelly introduces a fresh new protagonist, Detective Sergeant Stilwell. Catalina Island is the locale, where the local sheriff substation is manned by demoted cops who screwed up elsewhere. It rotates; they return to mainland (“overtown” or “overland”) California after proving themselves worthy again. But since homicide Captain Corum sent him here, Stilwell wants to stay; the outdoorsy marine life appeals to him, not to mention increasingly serious feelings for his girlfriend, assistant harbourmaster Tash Dano. Most of his work entails minor transgressions, often to do with visiting sailors and party animals at this popular weekend destination. Receptionist Mercy Chapa anchors the substation as jack-of-all-trades, while prosecutor Monika Juarez and Judge Harrell attend intermittently for court.

Things get heavy when a female corpse, obviously murdered, is found on the harbour bottom. Homicide detectives Ahearn and Sampedro from overtown are put in charge, but that doesn’t stop Stilwell from pursuing local leads on his own initiative. Ahearn’s hostility over an old grudge promises friction ahead. The body seems to be Leigh-Anne Moss, recently fired as a server at the exclusive Black Marlin Club in town, says manager Crane. With the investigation expanding beyond Catalina, the victim’s interesting activities come to light. Stilwell also has minor cases to take care of, opening up both island life and his own personality for us. But two of those cases hide ominous plans—people are disappearing or being killed.

Through these threads, Connelly works his signature style in measured prose as both a police procedural and a thriller. Stilwell is a man slightly more gentle than, but just as fierce, as our old friend Bosch. Nightshade is a flower, it’s a colour, it’s poison. And it’s a welcome new novel.

Bits

▪ He had a tattoo of a diamond ring on his neck below his left ear and a full sleeve of tats on his right arm depicting skulls, flowers, and a three-digit number Stilwell didn’t recognize but guessed was the area code of his place of origin. (16)

▪ It was a felony theft report filed by the general manager of the Black Marlin Club. (55)

▪ “He was ordering new airlines and filters. He told me all about the girl wrapped in an anchor chain.” (81)

▪ “We’re not partners and you’re not homicide. You’re going to be a nobody as soon as Corum takes your badge.” (157)

▪ “Monika!” Stilwell shouted. “Go next door and get the EMTs. Now!” (226)

▪ Stilwell moved toward her, checking Spivak as he passed. The shot had struck him above the right eyebrow. (244)

▪ “Terminated? You mean fired? No. Not that I know of. She was going to move in here with me.” (264)

▪ “You are the only one I told that I hadn’t sent the saw handle to the lab yet, that it was still on the island,” he said. “That’s why they grabbed Tash.” (275)

Sarah Pekkanen. The Locked Ward. USA: St. Martin’s Press, 2025.

If you buy into the twins-separated-at-birth trope (shades of Julie Chan), this one’s a dilly. We’re told that Georgia Cartwright and Amanda (Mandy) Ravenel were separated at birth and adopted out, neither being told she’s a twin. Georgia landed in a family of financial and social privilege where her mother Honey always favoured younger daughter Annabelle; job-wise, Georgia is a wedding planner for the upper classes. Mandy was raised by working class parents; dad eventually purchased the pub where he worked and now Mandy runs it. Georgia is charged with murdering Annabelle at her birthday party, believing the real killer framed her—whoever it was. Terrified for her life if she appears “normal,” she’s in a psych facility emulating dissociative disorder behaviour. Through a complex series of events, she reaches out to her newly discovered twin as the only one who can help her.

Even though the two women are as strangers, they feel the biological link. No one else is yet aware of their re-connection. Constantly watched in the ward, and in her protective disguise, Georgia can only encourage Mandy to investigate her recent movements and contacts. The short snappy chapters alternating from one woman to the other increase the tension dramatically while Mandy plays into Georgia’s lifestyle, aware now that powerful interests are eliminating anyone seeking information about the night of the murder. And Georgia’s time is running out—if she goes to trial she’s certain they will kill her in prison, the option being condemned to the asylum where mind-altering medication will be forced on her for years.

Interesting that in the midst of dysfunctional Cartwright family dynamics, neither twin shows interest in who their biological parents were. It’s one scary situation after another in a life-or-death quest to expose a desperate unknown killer. Truly twisty.

Mandy

▪ “Who divided us up?” Georgia asks me. “Who decided which twin went where?” (119)

▪ I’m not being paranoid. Someone broke into my apartment tonight. (149)

▪ She sent someone to my town, to my bar, to violate my space. (171)

▪ Every single person in this tangled, sordid mess seems like a twisted liar—including my twin, who dragged me into it and complicated my memories of my parents. (249)

▪ She throws back her head and laughs. “You stupid girl.” (258)

Georgia

▪ You are supposedly in a dissociative state, which you learned about years ago because you wrote a twenty-page paper on it for a college psychology class. (24)

▪ Maybe she doesn’t yet realize you’ve put her life at risk to save your life. (185)

▪ If the senator tossed aside DeeDee for a younger woman, who was to say your father wouldn’t do the same? (201)

▪ All your life you’ve heard about how awful you’ve been to Annabelle, the pretty, sweet, perfect daughter. The only one Honey and Stephen ever wanted. (218)

▪ “They’ll know when you lost your first tooth, your social security number, whether you have a drinking problem or an STD. These people are ruthless.” (245)