Library Limelights 293

Denise Mina. Confidence. USA: Mulholland/Little, Brown and Company, 2022.

Following a previous novel (Conviction, LL206) Mina picks up with Anna McDonald and Fin Cohen, partners in a podcast about true crime. Their domestic arrangements have changed: Hamish is Anna’s ex, father of her girls Jess and Lizzie; Hamish is now married to Anna’s good friend Estelle and they have a baby. Fin’s current girlfriend is Sofia, who is doing her bitchiest to disrupt the week-long countryside holiday that Anna invited them all for. Maliciously Sofia refers to a trauma in Anna’s past, appalling everyone present. A welcome distraction comes to Anna: a mysterious email with a link to the latest YouTube film by Lisa Lee, a young woman who illicitly trespasses into random buildings in the owners’ absences—an activity called urbex (urban exploration). This time she toured a derelict, abandoned chateau in France.

A small, memorable silver casket of Roman vintage is seen at the chateau in the film; now it’s up for sale at a Paris auction house. Never opened, it allegedly contains proof of Jesus’ resurrection. Religious groups and many others are massing and clamouring in the streets to learn what is in it, who the buyer will be. Then word comes that Lisa Lee had disappeared from her own front door. Kidnapped or killed? Smelling a story for their podcast, Anna and Fin seize the chance to exit their toxic ‘holiday’ atmosphere. Casting out to their resources network, they discover recent stories of the fascinating box. Along comes Bram van Wyk, a bombastic sort with considerable funds, who wants to help find and rescue Lisa. Although they think he’s lying about his do-good motive, they are willing to whisk off to Rome and Paris with him to follow the story; Bram’s nervous young son Marcos accompanies them, having just met his father for the first time.

Without a doubt, Confidence is the most intriguing novel I’ve lived through for some time, perhaps Mina’s finest yet. It takes a bit of time to fully grasp Anna’s situation, but forceful characters appear at every turn. A defrocked priest, a family betrayed, a brave girl, a hostile child, a vindictive mother—among others. The author expertly plies every emotion including a perfect balance of humour. I’m not even sure if all my questions were answered but the swift, successive events were totally compelling. Awesome, Ms Mina!

One-liners

▪ Fin said, “I told you not to come, Mr van Wyck.” (75)

▪ The cigarette was much too strong for me but I persevered to make the other damaged, middle-aged kids think I was cool. (78)

▪ Marcos, young, furious, alone, looked out of the window, kneading the edge of the seat with one hand. (123)

▪ “Did she steal that silver casket?” (134)

▪ Bram was the kind of man people would want to kill. (141)

▪ Eugene Lambert looked like an actor in his breakthrough role as a sexy priest. (151)

▪ His gaze swept the library shelves as if he wanted to say look at me and all I have: a small apartment on this mid-sized cruise ship full of other paranoid, tax-dodging millionaires. (229)

Multi-liners

▪ “I’ll just go straight home and see if anything’s happening. Might be nothing anyway. They might find her by the time I get there!” (42)

▪ “He didn’t mention Lisa Lee in the interview. I don’t think he really gives a toss about her.” (56)

▪ “Stand up for your fucking self,” I hollered. “Stop letting yourself be pushed around all the time.” (75)

▪ I stood there guiltily, holding the chair in mid-air. “I thought you were going to hit him.” (121)

▪ “Hey,” grinned Florian, “my stepsister was raped at college. She listened to your podcast. She quotes you all the time.” (128)

▪ His own father hadn’t booked them rooms together, nor was Fin chosen to mind his son. Just me. Because I had ovaries. (164)

▪ “Pah!” He looked at Fin. “This – this is fake. This casket is a fake.” (193)

▪ “You’re safe with me. I got in the car because I was afraid of leaving you on your own, not because I’m afraid of confronting Sofia.” (208)

Babysitting

“Let me speak to your mum, Marcos.”

His back rounded away from me, protecting the phone. “Uh-hm?”

“Marcos, let me speak to your mother.”

I think I must have been a bit drunk because I grabbed his shoulder and prised the phone out of his hand in one swift motherly don’t-put-that-in-your-mouth move.

“Hello,” I said smoothly, “am I speaking to Marcos’ mom?”

“ ... Who’s this?”

“OK, Janine, you don’t know me but I’m with your son.”

Marcos was frightened and struggled to get the phone back but I ducked away and heard Janine snarl, “Who in the name of fuck is this?”

Janine had the scariest voice I have ever heard. Her accent was thick Boston, I couldn’t place it more closely than that but I could hear the oesophageal graze of every cigarette she’d ever smoked in her voice and she sounded as if she was drunk.

“Ah ha, yes, hello.” I felt very unsure suddenly. “Yes, hello. So, um, I am travelling with your son and my name is Anna ‒”

But Marcos was shaking his head, eyes wide, mouthing NO NO DON’T SAY YOUR NAME as he ran his fingertips across his throat. (166-7)

Wayne Arthurson. The Red Chesterfield. Ebook download from TPL. Canada: University of Calgary Press, 2019.

A gem of a discovery! Brief and quirky, a novella that stands out amongst all forms of crime fiction. The narrator is a city bylaw officer, pledged to keeping his designated area free from irresponsible citizens who scoff bylaws. We know him as M; his older brother is K, his younger brother J. The three live together in their parents’ old house. M is following up a complaint about a yard sale that never seems to end; this one has become almost permanent. But near the residence in question, M spots a slightly battered red chesterfield in a ditch, presumably discarded. When he investigates, he finds a severed foot in it. Then come police and curious neighbours, among them the pyjama-clad complainant about the momentarily forgotten yard sale.

Later, M returns to serve the bylaw infraction ticket to Yard Sale Owner. Whose name is Yuri, and he is very kind to M, considering the day’s neighbourhood excitement. I will stop describing there, can’t reveal the next bizarre event! The entire story is delivered delightfully deadpan, involving persons of interest, suspects, M’s girlfriend Rhonda, Yuri’s hysterical wife, and Yuri’s lookalike brother Boris. I love the format that renders the chapters as more or less one page (assuming the paper version has the same deliberate arrangement). Improbable? Absurd? Much more than that.

Bits

▪ I do have a tendency for order, which is one reason I make a good bylaw officer. (10)

▪ Sure. She is my boss but she was my girlfriend before she was my boss. (29)

▪ I relax into the red chesterfield and think about what I should do. (36)

▪ I am unable to speak because my plan to be a tough bylaw officer is thrown by his kindness. (38)

▪ “Man, you don’t always have to take over and think you’re saving the day, you know,” J says. “Sometimes we can handle problems ourselves.” (69)

▪ Back at home, I light some sage, let the smoke blow over me. I’m too jittery for the smudge to work. (72)

▪ The last few days of my life have been the most unusual I have ever experienced, disconcerting and exciting at the same time. (83)

▪ “He said you should tell me he is missing?” (97)

▪ “You’re always on my case about doing the right thing and here you are, both of you, fucking up left and right.” (116)