HOMICIDE MY OWN
by Anne Argula
Cops on a routine errand at the edge of the world reopen a decades-old pair of murders.
Back in Spokane, systems analyst Charles T. Houser went off the rails big-time, leaving his girlfriend for a potty-mouthed 14-year-old named Stacey and then jumping bail and running off with his nymphet to a far-off Shalish Island casino, where an alert Native American security chief put him under lock and key but couldn’t prevent him from attempting suicide. Since Houser’s in no condition to travel, Odd Gunderson and his partner Quinn, who’ve been sent to retrieve him, have no choice but to spend a night or two—just long enough for Odd to become fascinated by the double murder of star-crossed teenage sweethearts Jimmy Coyote and Jeannie Olson 33 years ago. There’s no chance Odd and his quirky, reflective, postmenopausal partner could possibly shed new light on such a cold case if it weren’t for an unexpected advantage: Odd seems to be channeling the spirit of Jeannie Olson. At least he instinctively knows a lot about her short life that he couldn’t possibly know. Is Odd Jeannie reincarnated? And if he is, how will hardheaded narrator Quinn, her temper already frayed by hot flashes, handle the news?
A loopy, immensely likable debut that’s both less and more than a conventional mystery. One can only imagine the sequel.