Photo Illustration by The Globe and Mail
Cherry Beach, Don Gillmor (Biblioasis, 263 pages) This is one of the best Canadian crime novels of this or any year. Don Gillmor, award-winning journalist, author of four literary novels, fine non-fiction and several children’s books, now introduces his newest protagonist. Jamieson Abel is a middle-aged, mid-level Toronto cop who investigates crimes in the town I live in. Toronto now takes its place with Los Angeles, New York and Boston as a character in the action and it’s great.
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Two bright young women – track stars – are dead. St. James Town, once a neighbourhood for the middle-class, is now home to immigrants and racism has become more visible. Since one girl had a Black Jamaican boyfriend, he becomes the immediate suspect. The police department, smarting from a very public scandal, wants a quick catch especially since the story is big news. Another murder, this one of a sex-worker, isn’t.
Abel doesn’t buy the Black boyfriend theory, but he’s not the lead investigator and his hunches aren’t evidence. His partner, Davis, a Black woman is the face of the investigation. If she wins, great – the whole team gets credit. If not, she loses alone. Welcome to misogyny and racism in 2026.
That’s the thinnest edge of a complicated plot that has – like Toronto itself – money and real estate at its heart. Abel, loner and lonely, continues to dig in, among other things, the work of a graffiti artist. Along the way, he constructs great meals (I actually tried his traybake), relays bits of old town history and takes us on a marvellous crawl through a city I love. I want more Jamieson Abel, please.
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One Second Away, Rick Mofina (Doubleday) One of Canada’s bestselling and best-known authors (36 books and counting) serves up a scary premise, instant action, some heart-tugging characters and a terrifically complicated plot. We begin with one of the worst fears of all Toronto transit riders – a subway crash. As a transit cop watches in horror, a stopped train on the tracks is hit by an oncoming train from Dupont Station.
The story then switches to Los Angeles. At the airport, Jessie Ward is about to send her nine-year-old son to New York for a visit to his grandparents and his father, Jessie’s soon-to-be ex husband. Jessie is dreading the goodbye, but Dylan is cheery for the adventure.
Once he’s in the hands of an airline attendant, Jessie can only sweat the hours until she knows he’s safely with his family. But then comes the call.
Books we’re reading and loving in May
Dylan is missing and his AirTag is still in L.A. An elderly couple claiming to be his grandparents took him away. Who and why? And what does it have to do with that train in Toronto?
As usual, Rick Mofina’s pacing is excellent. The twists come as the fate of a child hangs on the line. Save it for that first weekend at the cottage.
Liar’s Creek, Matt Goldman (Minotaur, 336 pages) This tenth novel by Matt Goldman is the first one I’ve read and it will not be the last.
“Riverwood, Minnesota, has four stoplights, two beauty salons, one barber shop, seven restaurants, one Center for the Arts, two hardware stores, one bakery, one police station, three auto repair shops, and one missing person.”
That opening had me cold. Liar’s Creek has superb characters, a really engaging plot and a great setting.
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Clay Hawkins is an old resident of Riverwood, returning with his son, Braedon, after two decades away. Braedon is keen on his new home, happy to be with his grandfather, the local sheriff and his great-uncle. Clay is not so happy. He loves his uncle, respects his father, has reservations about both and a lot of memories – good and bad – about life in Riverwood.
Life seems to be okay, manageable, until that day when someone, someone close, goes missing and Clay’s Riverwood past collides with his vexed present. This book is a mystery but also a novel about rediscovery and redemption. I read it in one weekend blitz. You will, too.
Guilt, Keigo Higashino (Minotaur, 416 pages) Keigo Higashino is one of Japan’s finest mystery novelists and Guilt (also known as The Swan and the Bat) is one of his best. It is a brilliant examination of guilt and redemption in all their religious and moral forms, as well as a compelling investigation of a terrible crime. Be warned – this is a slow novel that requires attention to the smallest detail. You cannot skim read Higashino.
The story begins at the start of a murder investigation. Homicide detective Godai of the Tokyo police is at the scene. The dead man is a lawyer, Kensuke Shiraishi, in his own car. As Godai follows the clues, a suspect emerges.
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Tatsuro Kuraki had dealings with the lawyer, but denies any part in his death. Until he doesn’t. Suddenly, Kuraki confesses, not only to the murder of Shiraishi but to the murder, 30 years before, of another man. A different person, arrested for that murder, died in custody. It would appear that Kuraki has three dead men on his conscience.
The police are happy to close the case, but Godai isn’t convinced. There are holes in Kuraki’s confession. Furthermore, the daughter of the man he claims he killed decades before doesn’t believe him either.
We are in the land of character where personal morality and belief propel the action. If this is your introduction to Japanese crime fiction, be prepared to dive into the ocean.
It’s Not What You Think, Clare Mackintosh (HarperCollins, 394 pages) Clare Mackintosh is emerging as the queen of the British twist plot. Each novel has so many convolutions that it seems the story just won’t work but it does, every time, and this brilliant little tale of lies and suspicions is masterful.
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Nadeeka is in love with Jamie. They’ve been together for 10 months. But the relationship seems strained. Jamie is spending time away. There are phone calls that are private.
Nadeeka is convinced that he’s having an affair and so she decides to set a trap to catch him.
The trap snaps and Nadeeka hurtles into the room for a confrontation. Jamie’s there all right. He’s dead. The trap is now a crime scene and, no surprise, Nadeeka is a prime suspect. It’s definitely not what you think.
Mackintosh slips clues into corners and keeps the action moving by taking the reader down seemingly possible roads that lead to dead ends or more hints. Prepare to stay hooked.
Last One Out, Jane Harper (Flatiron books, 368 pages) I loved The Dry, Jane Harper’s earlier novel set in rural Australia. She incorporates the land in a way few writers can. Forget glamping under the stars. Harper’s Oz is hot, dry, insular and filled with dread. Last One Out takes us right into that world again. The despair here is so thick, you could drown in it.
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Ro Crowley’s son was supposed to meet her for a celebration of his 21st birthday. He never showed up. The tragedy wrecked Ro’s life. Her marriage ended and she fled her hometown of Carralon Ridge. But once a year, she returns for the anniversary of that awful evening.
Did Sam Crowley die? Was he murdered? And where is he? Those questions continue to dog Ro and five years later, as she returns for the anniversary, little has changed.
Harper’s forte are her vivid descriptions of place and people. Carralon Ridge is dying in the shadow of a coal mine that destroyed the soul of the town. Ro’s old friends see her not as a victim but a blot. She is a reflection of their own losses and they reject her way of dealing with Sam’s disappearance, however horrific it was. This book is less a mystery, full of clues and investigations, than a reflection on loss and grief. It’s not The Dry, but it’s very good.