Novels No. 42 (LL360)

 

Kate Hilton & Elizabeth Renzetti. Bury the Lead. Toronto: House of Anansi, 2024.

Since the two authors were celebrated at a dinner and talk next door to me, I thought I'd give it a read. The plot centres around the summer destination town of Port Ellis and its lauded Playhouse Theatre. Narrator Cat Conway writes for the town's small newspaper, charged with interviewing celebrities who appear in the new season's productions. Well-known actor Eliot Fraser is chief among them, a rather obnoxious old lecher; co-star Jonah Tiller is a man with a grudge against Eliot. Prominent theatre board member Martha Mercer is Eliot's ex-wife; her son Alec is directing the play Inherit the Wind. When Eliot chokes and dies in public on opening night, it's international news, and the town is inundated with media. Cat and her Quill & Packet colleagues—publisher Dorothy, managing editor Amir, reporters Bruce and Kaydence—are galvanized.

Young Declan Chen-Martin, a native of Port Ellis, is the nervous understudy for Eliot's part. His mother Adeline owns a popular restaurant, Second Act, above which Cat rents an apartment. Cat's recent past includes an acrimonious divorce, but beyond that, she avoids talk of why she left her big city journalism career in disgrace. Old newspaper buddy Nick turns up, pushing a tempting offer to return to the big time. But she's feeling the challenge to beat him and everyone else in breaking this murder story—inviting surprisingly dangerous reactions. As Cat interviews and investigates, more people than she can count had secret reasons to kill Eliot; he had theatre history in Port Ellis so it's not just other actors whom he antagonized. Behind the scenes at the Playhouse and in the town has more drama than the plays.

The writing is effortlessly stylish, smoothly laced with humour throughout, even as it deals with topical issues. I could easily picture one of Ontario's real such towns. Gotta love the authors' consistently great metaphors (or are they analogies?). They fill the pages with relatable human beings and enough action to satisfy any mystery fan. Looks like a second Cat Conway novel is coming—they know their audience!

Fun samples

▪ His gaze fell to the bottom of his glass, as if he expected to find Jason Robards there. (13)

▪ I was being asked if I could handle a simple entertainment profile. It was like being asked if I could tie my own shoelaces. (25)

▪ Dorothy put down her glasses which had lenses so thick they looked like they'd been designed by NASA. (21)

▪ In the kitchen, I put a pot of coffee on and stretched once more, listening to my spine crack like ice along the lakeshore in March. (193-4)

Bits

▪ "All because I wouldn't sleep with a disgusting old man? I should sue him." (48)

▪ "Just for starters, Jonah and Eliot have been at each other's throats for weeks." (50)

▪ "Those old bastards thought they were entitled to everything. Eliot's ass was kissed more often than the pope's ring." (66)

▪ Men. They walked through the world as if it was designed for them, because it was. (75)

▪ That voice. It was the aural equivalent of seeing the cops in your rear-view mirror, flashing their lights. (81)

▪ "My businesses employ most of Port Ellis, one way or the other. You can mess with me if you want, young lady, but you'll only be hurting yourself." (101)

▪ Adeline's hand snaked out and took Declan's glass and, with one quick movement, reached over the bar and dumped it down the sink. (168)

▪ And then, in a flash, I remembered what had happened the last time a rage like this had consumed me: I'd erupted at a random stranger on the street, and then watched my career go up in flames. (198-9)

▪ "That was the last peaceful night I had before women started throwing dog shit at my house." (240)

▪ "Of course he was jealous. I was him, minus a few decades on the clock." (258)

Anders De La Motte. The Mountain King. Ebook download from TPL. 2022. Simon & Schuster, 2024.

I ask myself, why did I choose this novel? It's creepy: you can tell early on because the psycho (the "mountain king") is given voice in brief disturbing passages. Ditching the book was my first reflex, but the police protagonist, Leonore (Leo) Asker, was an intriguing reason to continue. The handling of a missing persons' case is taken away from her in revenge for an old humiliation she gave Jonas Hellman. His influence on her boss Rodic has him appointed as superior officer in charge of finding what happened to Smilla Holst, daughter of a wealthy local man. Smilla's boyfriend, Malik Mansur, who vanished with her, is being quietly sketched as the potential kidnapper. Asker is relegated temporarily to heading what we'd call cold case files, but that she calls Department of Orphaned Cases and Lost Souls. Her new underlings—Virgilsson (cryptic toad), Rosen (nervous rabbit), Zafer (mental techie), and Attila (scary hulk)—inspire no optimism in her whatsoever.

Meanwhile we know Smilla is alone, trapped in a mountain cave by the unknown creep. Urban exploration is a theme; old abandoned structures are a big attraction for its enthusiasts. Such as underground, sealed-off, former military sites. Much more than a kidnapping is going on here: Asker's new office companions have secret agendas; odd clues to missing people turn up in a gigantic model railroad; Mansur is found dead in his car; Asker's childhood friend Martin could be her best resource for locating the killer. She knows Hellman has been way off base in his investigation, but her partially pieced-together theory—and her involvement at all—is rejected by Rodic.

Throw together Leo's peculiar father Per, police misogyny, a tender friendship, control freaks, an extended Swedish hillbilly family, and a charged atmosphere in every corner: the creepiness does not dominate. Nordic Noir with a muy sympatico champion. Apparently The Mountain King is the first of three, so far, in a series starring Leo Asker. I hope the translator is working night and day!

Bits

▪ Jonas Hellman is going to come for her; she doesn't doubt that for one second. (44)

▪ "Isn't it a little early to lock in on such a blinkered hypothesis as Mansur kidnapping his own girlfriend?" (57)

▪ The only sound she hears is the clunk of her career hitting rock bottom. (88)

▪ The figures are an almost exact copy of Smilla Holst's last Instagram post. (123)

▪ Observing them as they slept peacefully in their beds, wholly unaware of his presence. His power over them. (166)

▪ "... Per honed her till she was sharp as a razor. Taught her shooting, close combat, driving, you name it." (204)

▪ He owns us, Julia had whispered. (237)

▪ Did Hellman know Eskil and his two henchmen were planning to attack her? (375)

▪ She wishes she could be there to see it happen. To watch on as his investigation implodes. (376)

▪ The control centre is feeding them the coordinates of the GPS in Asker's police radio. It gives her location accurate to a matter of feet. (436)