VILLAGE IN THE DARK

A trio of strong women face multiple challenges, including murder.

Former Anchorage police detective Cara Kennedy has been so devastated by the unexplained death of her husband, Aaron, and their young son, Dylan, that her grief has led to long-term disability. A possible clue to the mystery leads her back to remote Point Mettier, whose 205 residents all live in the same apartment building. Pretending she’d been sent by the Anchorage police, Cara solved a baffling murder there several months ago. This atmospheric sequel effectively leans into the darkness, literal and figurative, of its frigid setting. Ellie Wright, who owns the Cozy Condo Inn, which occupies a floor of that huge building, has just learned that her estranged son, Timothy MacCullum, has been found dead in his apartment. Cara’s condolence call turns weird when Ellie spots a photo of Timmy on Cara’s phone. Drugs and gangs provide possible links between his death and the murder that Cara recently solved. Cara and Ellie had clashed often in the past, but the tragedy they share brings them together as “a regular Cagney and Lacey.” As in Yamashita’s debut, the perspective rotates in short chapters among multiple female characters, from Cara to Ellie to Mia Upash, a half Indigenous waitress at the drolly named Lonely Diner who’s being stalked by the dangerous and volatile Derek. The author’s career as a screenwriter is reflected in crisp and concise character descriptions that bring a hardscrabble community alive. Reaching beyond its core whodunit, her story probes the lives of people struggling to survive.

A sharp and gritty mystery with a compelling sociopolitical undercurrent.