A highly readable whodunit that’s well grounded in social issues.
A gay Latino writer turns detective when a series of apparent hate crimes rocks his small town in VanPatten’s mystery.
Aspiring middle-aged novelist Will Christian is pedaling hard on his daily cardio bike ride in the fictional town of Mañana in California’s fertile Central Valley when he comes across a flock of vultures devouring a large carcass. He queasily recognizes a human hand rising from the remains, which are soon identified as those of 22-year-old Sergio Ramirez; like Will, he’s gay and Latino, and Will’s writerly curiosity kicks in as he begins to wonder if the man’s death could be a hate crime. His week is made even more eventful when he meets José Torres, a handsome grocery store worker who seems to be his perfect romantic match, while out shopping. Will’s fascination with the murder mystery is heightened when the body of another handsome, young, gay Latino man is found; at the same time, Will remains troubled by a memory of his high school friend, who may also have been killed for being gay and Latino. But as Will finds himself drawn further into the investigation, asking locals for help and pursuing potential leads with a dating app, he could become the killer’s next target. VanPatten presents an affable and relatable amateur detective in Will, and the story immediately draws readers in by placing the gruesome discovery of the first body in the opening paragraphs. Will’s immediate attention to the possible racial aspect of the crime and the account of his first meeting with José have a feeling of authenticity, as does the men’s encounter with a local homophobe. However, some readers may wish that the author had explored some facets of the narrative more deeply, such as the history of Will’s close relationship with his lesbian sister. The story has some lighter moments, but the story also presents a keen exploration of American racism, which, as Will says, “coursed through this country’s veins like cheap vodka in a drunk’s bloodstream.”
A highly readable whodunit that’s well grounded in social issues.Pub Date: July 8, 2021
ISBN: 979-8737025731
Page Count: 345
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.
Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.
A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice (The Bone Collection, 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
A vivid, exciting page-turner from one of our most interesting authors of historical fiction.
When a man accused of rape turns up dead, an Early American town seeks justice amid rumors and controversy.
Lawhon’s fifth work of historical fiction is inspired by the true story and diaries of midwife Martha Ballard of Hallowell, Maine, a character she brings to life brilliantly here. As Martha tells her patient in an opening chapter set in 1789, “You need not fear….In all my years attending women in childbirth, I have never lost a mother.” This track record grows in numerous compelling scenes of labor and delivery, particularly one in which Martha has to clean up after the mistakes of a pompous doctor educated at Harvard, one of her nemeses in a town that roils with gossip and disrespect for women’s abilities. Supposedly, the only time a midwife can testify in court is regarding paternity when a woman gives birth out of wedlock—but Martha also takes the witness stand in the rape case against a dead man named Joshua Burgess and his living friend Col. Joseph North, whose role as judge in local court proceedings has made the victim, Rebecca Foster, reluctant to make her complaint public. Further complications are numerous: North has control over the Ballard family's lease on their property; Rebecca is carrying the child of one of her rapists; Martha’s son was seen fighting with Joshua Burgess on the day of his death. Lawhon weaves all this into a richly satisfying drama that moves suspensefully between childbed, courtroom, and the banks of the Kennebec River. The undimmed romance between 40-something Martha and her husband, Ephraim, adds a racy flair to the proceedings. Knowing how rare the quality of their relationship is sharpens the intensity of Martha’s gaze as she watches the romantic lives of her grown children unfold. As she did with Nancy Wake in Code Name Hélène (2020), Lawhon creates a stirring portrait of a real-life heroine and, as in all her books, includes an endnote with detailed background.
A vivid, exciting page-turner from one of our most interesting authors of historical fiction.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780385546874
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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