Heather, Caitlin Mullen (Celadon, 352 pages)
This slow-moving novel of psychological suspense is a true “women’s novel.” That doesn’t mean it won’t appeal to men, just that the intricacy of plot and depth of character is very feminine and, at its heart, it’s a novel about abused and abandoned women and sisterhood.
The book has two timelines and four major characters: Today, in the New Jersey hamlet of The Pines, newly installed Police Chief Callie Hauser is facing the misogyny of her local force and the kindly interference of an ex-chief. She has left a major job to come to The Pines to help look after Jane, her oldest and dearest friend who’s slowly recovering from a hit-and-run accident. While on duty, Callie comes upon an unsolved case from 30 years ago – a newborn infant was left on the side of a road and the child died. A teenager presumed to be the baby’s mother disappeared.
As Callie digs into the old case, her own backstory is revealed. The only child of a teenaged mother who is the town alcoholic, she thought she’d escaped. Her research into the sad story of the infant reveals not one but two desperate teenaged twin girls – Annabelle and Sabrina – abandoned by their mother, ignored and largely abandoned by their father. Sabrina is the forceful one, the presumed parent, and Annabelle is the smart one, the girl expected to succeed. Both are seduced by the same man.
Somewhere in upstate New York, another woman is enjoying her beautiful home and her picture-perfect family. What role she has to play is gradually revealed by her daughter, adored and pampered, who wreaks havoc on her world. That’s when the whole long story of Heather reaches a climax. You won’t put this one down until the end, so save it for when you have time.
Getting Away With Murder, Shari Lapena (Viking, 352 pages)
“The rich are not like you and me” is a trope that runs through the ages. There are always people who have lots, want more, and live opulent lives. We are now in a new Gilded Age, with stories of people making billion-dollar paydays, mega-yachts so big they need a smaller yacht for their passengers to reach shore, and fortunes in the trillions. Truly, not like you and me.
Jill and Ted Westcott are part of that entitled breed. They have perfect servants to maintain their perfect home. They adore their pampered children and see no reason why they won’t also live luxurious lives. But then things go wrong. Ted’s inheritance runs out. An investment goes wrong. What to do? Retrench? Forget that. The answer is obvious. Murder Ted’s highly successful brother, Greg, and claim his $45-million estate.
The question in this highly skilled and enormously readable novel about really loathsome people isn’t who or why. It’s “will they get away with it?” There’s a cop on their trail who isn’t convinced Greg fell off his yacht. There’s Jill’s BFF, who resents Jill for having more money than she does.
There are other, even more sinister people about, including the loan shark who financed the Westcotts’ lifestyle as it cratered. Or will they get away with it? Lapena, easily one of the best Canadian crime authors now writing, never lets the suspense falter. One of her best so far.
Storm Tide, Paul Doiron (Minotaur, 352 pages)
I love this superb series featuring Maine game warden Mike Bowditch. Once again, Doiron delivers a terrific crime novel with plenty of info about Bowditch’s own story. This time out, Mike happens on a housefire that turns into tragedy. He manages to get a burning man out, but the man dies. Seems like a sad tale but the dead man was accused of killing his own child. A fancy lawyer put enough reasonable doubt into the case to warrant an acquittal, but plenty of locals believed he was guilty.
Miles away, another man dies tragically. Was he run over by a train or was it a suicide? He too was charged with a crime and not convicted. The state police don’t see a connection between the two but Mike does. And, as his wife reaches the final weeks of her pregnancy, things seem to be getting far too close. She’s being followed by a white van. Strange events seem to tie Mike to the dead men and make him a possible target. As the year moves on, things get stranger. Bowditch fans will love this one. Everyone else will want to read the other 15 first.
The Lover, Mary Watson (Random House Canada, 384 pages)
This second novel from Watson, who wrote the bestselling The Cleaner, shows she’s not just a one-book-wonder. The Lover grabs the reader on the first page and never lets up.
Hallie Rausch has the perfect life. She’s back in her old hometown, working for the Moss, a museum she’s loved since childhood. And she has the perfect lover – Rafe is sexy and smart and charming and, unfortunately, also her boss, the museum director. The romance goes south and tensions flare. Small events in Hallie’s professional life put her job in jeopardy. She’s convinced Rafe is behind the errors, wanting her out of his life. Hallie fights back with a grievance complaint against the Moss and Rafe, whom she still dreams about. Then one night it all happens: Rafe, booze, and sex. Hallie wakes in the morning to a dead body and the realization that the prime suspect in a murder is Hallie Rausch.
Naturally, there are plenty of secrets to be uncovered and some old history but Watson keeps the suspense and the tension flowing as we uncover the real story of Hallie and Rafe and a love that turns to obsession.
Liars in Paradise, Olesya Lyuzna (Mysterious Press, 304 pages)
For me, there’s no better summer treat than a perfectly timed historical mystery and Toronto author Olesya Lyuzna took me right back to The Great Gatsby in this terrific follow-up to Glitter in The Dark featuring her lady detective, Ginny Dugan.
It all begins with a shoot-’em-up after a high stakes poker game. Ginny’s partner, Jack Crawford, is front and centre, literally, with the gun in his hand and the dead man on the floor. The place is an elite private club and the owner gives Jack five days to solve the crime or hang for it. That sends Ginny racing for clues among the moneyed scions of Long Island. Champagne flows and lies get told and it’s all great fun. I loved this one.
Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die, Mallory Arnold (Poisoned Pen, 341 pages)
The locked-room mystery never gets old, especially when it’s combined with revenge, jealousy, and a touch of horror. Enter this novel from Mallory Arnold. She knows how to build atmosphere and this slick sinuous tale is drenched in it. Ruby, Cham, and Nora have nothing in common, didn’t even know one another, until they discovered that all three were dating – and infatuated with – Jason. He’s lied and played them all. Once they discover what a rat he is, they decide to set a trap. Not to harm him, of course, just teach him a lesson he richly deserves. Off the women go to an isolated cabin to set the plan in motion, but then it all goes awry. A snowstorm strands them in a wooded netherworld, and, worst of all, Jason turns up dead. Who did it? Who’s innocent? Everyone has secrets and has told lies – and a killer who’s killed once just might strike again. This is a great puzzle-plot with clues like crumbs in the forest. Not to be missed.
We Would Never Tell, Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau (Sourcebooks, 437 pages)
Jouhanneau is yet another YA author who’s made the jump to adult crime fiction. Her first book, The French Honeymoon, showed she was definitely in the psychological thriller mainstream. We Would Never Tell takes us there again but this is the Cannes Film Festival, with all the glamour and glitz to add to the mix, and some missing jewels to boot.
We open with a simple prologue from an unnamed young women at the bottom of the Hollywood pecking order. “We are invisible,” she writes. No one cares or notices, even when a multimillion-dollar necklace goes missing – but when a dead body turns up in the Mediterranean, well, that’s something else entirely.
The story then cuts to the last day of the festival, as written in colourful language by an online influencer. And that’s how Jouhanneau gets the reader hooked for the rest of the novel. Voices vary, characters arrive and leave, and the mystery keeps moving amid the glamour and lies and the glorious French landscape. Watch this writer. She’s amazing.
Restless Bones, Gillian French (Minotaur, 292 pages)
Yet another terrific novel from the state of Maine. French, an Edgar Award nominee, brings back her excellent detective, fingerprint analyst Shaw Connolly, in the aftermath of the tragic death of her sister at the hands of a psychopath named Anders Jensen. But it’s the dead body in the pond that starts us all on the hunt.
The dead woman has been missing for a year. And there’s a single clue that Shaw uncovers: a fingerprint belonging to a long-dead female ex-con. Just as she starts to unravel the death in the pond, Anders Jensen rears his head again. There are two other dead woman who he may confess to but only if Shaw Connolly is part of the investigation. Shaw knows that Jensen does nothing without a plan and that he’s evil but she also knows the torture suffered by families who don’t know what happened to their loved ones. She agrees to the terms but it’s at a cost. Her own family is grieving, her marriage is collapsing and her youngest son is drifting away. How to keep it all afloat and still evade whatever plan Anders Jensen is hatching for her? Great plot, great characters, and superb writing.
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