Tag: mystery (Page 1 of 5)

Author Ernest Cunningham has reluctantly agreed to join his family at a remote ski resort for a family reunion. His brother, convicted of murder, will be newly released and in attendance. The challenge is that Ernest testified against him, and the family resents Ern for doing so.

Now when I say “author”, I mean that Ernest is the author of how-to crime books that rely on the 1929 Ten Commandments of Detective Fiction from Ronald Knox. He’s a crime aficionado and becomes the defacto sleuth when a dead body is discovered in the snow one morning. Seems nobody is missing a loved one, nobody is missing from the guest registry, and nobody recognizes the body. Odd.

Then a snowstorm forces everyone to shelter in place, and it’s one death after another. Which of Ernest’s dysfunctional family members is to blame? Or is it Juliette the cagey resort owner? Perhaps Gavin from the competing resort across the way? Or is Ernest an infallible narrator?

What’s fun about this novel is that Ernest talks directly to the reader. He tells us that he’s honest and, to prove it, he forewarns of the page numbers where there will be a murder.

If you’re just here for the gory details, deaths in this book either happen or are reported to have happened on page 14, page 46, page 65, a twofer on page 75, and a hat trick on page 81. Then there’s a bit of a stretch but it picks up again on page 174, page 208(ish), page 218 … I promise that’s the truth, unless the typesetter mucks with the pages. There is only one plot hold you could drive a truck through. I tend to spoil things. There are no sex scenes.

Another fun fact: the book is set in Australia.

If you like Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club or Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders, then you’ll enjoy Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. I’ve also read and enjoyed Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect. Stevenson has others books in this series too.

Tana French is masterful. Faithful Place (first published in 2010) feels like it should be a Netflix crime series because the dialogue and characters are so vivid. Frank Mackey is a Dublin cop who is called home by his sister Jackie because a neighbourhood builder has dislodged a suitcase from the chimney of a derelict building. The suitcase belonged to Frank’s long-lost girlfriend Rosie. Twenty years ago Rosie went missing. The pair were to meet and run away to London together to work as roadies. Rosie never showed and everyone has always assumed she skipped town, just not with Frank.

Frank’s homecoming to Faithful Place is not celebrated. Yes, the suitcase is a bad omen, but Frank is estranged from his family, and on top of that he has become a cop. There’s hardly a more despised profession in Faithful Place.

Faithful Place is a fictionalized neighbourhood in Dublin near the Liberties. It’s a poor neighbourhood where everyone is suspicious of the cops and prone to gossip. Growing up in the 1960s and 70s meant small, cramped flats, basic meals, a hardy dose of Catholicism and no shortage of alcoholism and childhood violence.

Frank’s scrappy and shrewd older brother questions Frank’s motives for returning. Frank’s younger brother Kevin is keen to fall in as Frank’s sidekick again, and the sisters Carmel and Jackie are all about keeping the peace. This is a novel about long-brewing resentments, sibling rivalries, class conflicts, adolescent flirtations and grudges, and all the ways we misjudge those closest to us. Faithful Place is a captivating read. It’s dark, tragic, and there’s little redemption for any of the characters but it’s also funny, poetic, and full of genius storytelling.

I also enjoyed The Searcher by Tana French.

Graveyard Shift: A Novella is about a random group of night shift workers who all take their smoke break in the local cemetery. But one night they discover a newly dug grave. The cemetery was decommissioned so who or what is the new grave for and why was it dug in the middle of the night?

A deep sense of foreboding descends on the group, who eventually disperse. But curiosity gets the better of two of them who catch sight of the grave digger returning.

The mismatched group of five each have their own strengths, and they call upon each other to solve the mystery.

Part horror, part thriller, part ghost story, this creepy novella is perfect for a campfire read.

Well, I spotted this at the library and did not realize it is the second book of a series. That said, it’s a good twisting mystery with a fun-loving amateur sleuth (and I could piece together most of the backstory). It reminds me a bit of Susan Juby’s Helen Thorpe series.

Annie Adams is settling into her new, rural England home that she’s inherited from her recently deceased aunt. Backstory: Annie’s aunt was murdered and Annie figured out the murder, which is how she inherited the house, which was contested by another descendant.

You know the drill. Quaint English village sees its weird share of murders. Young woman at a loss finds herself at the centre of the drama. There’s a love interest.

In this version, Annie encounters a fortune teller, Peony Lane, who holds secrets to a mysterious car crash in 1967 and Annie’s aunt’s involvement. But Peony Lane ends up dead in Annie’s house, which kicks off a series of unfortunate events that help unravel secrets from the past. And luckily enough, the love interest is the local cop.

If you like cozy mysteries, then I’d start with the first book in the Castle Knoll series.

How to Seal Your Own Fate is published by Penguin Random House Canada.

John Banville is an exceptional writer. The Drowned is a dark and moody tale set in 1950s Ireland. A loner comes across an abandoned car (still running and with the driver door wide open). Against his better judgment, he has a closer look. What unfolds is a troubled story of a missing woman, presumed drowned, and the deviant nature of her husband and the people he turns to for help.

Called in from Dublin to investigate is Detective Inspector Strafford, and through him we are introduced to pathologist Quirke, Chief Hackett, and Quirke’s daughter Phoebe. Their stories, running in parallel to the mysterious disappearance of the woman, are all about the secrets we hide, and the complicated ways that justice is served.

If you like John Banville, this read is top drawer. Similar writers would be Claire Keegan (Small Things Like These) or Anne Enright (The Green Road).

Published in Canada by HarperCollins

Butter is a an international bestselling novel that follows a Toyko journalist trying to get an exclusive interview with a female gourmet cook accused of serial murder.

Manako Kajii is awaiting her retrial in the Tokyo Detention House. She is charged with the murders of three businessmen with whom she was engaged to be married. Kajii refuses to speak to the press or entertain visitors but journalist Rika Machida, who knows nothing about cooking, gets a tip from her best friend about how she might infiltrate: Rika asks Kajii for her beef stew recipes. Will Kajii soften like butter and reveal all to Rika? Or will Rika just be another victim who falls prey to Kajii’s manipulations?

Yes, the novel is inspired by the real case of a convicted con woman and serial killer (the Konkatsu Killer), but Butter is more an exploration of misogynistic attitudes and diet culture. There are several female journalists who are treated differently in the office and by sources. There’s the toxic fat shaming Kajii endures from the press and from readers; and as Rika explores the rich meals Kajii loves, she too is shamed by peers and colleagues for her weight gain.

Butter is the story of a tenacious journalist who is committed to uncovering the nature of an accused killer. In the process she discovers more about herself, her family, her values, and her friends. It’s social commentary, personal journey, and a bit of gawker culture. It is not a fast-paced, true crime read but it is worthwhile.

If you like books where a culture and cuisine are highlighted, then this is for you. Or if you like social commentary with wit or some twist, then give this a try. I don’t have a lot of comparable reads but Kazou Ishiguro, Paul Lynch, and Jason Mott come to mind.