RELENTLESS MELT

Bushnell’s third novel blends an atmospheric supernatural mystery with an intriguing exploration of gender identity.

In 1909 Boston, 17-year-old Artie Quick works as a salesgirl in Filene's Tunnel Bargain Basement, the recently opened overflow shop. But on Wednesday evenings she disguises herself as a man, slicking back her cropped black hair with pomade filched from the men's counter and wearing her estranged brother Zeb’s old suit, to attend Professor Winchell’s course on Criminal Investigation at the YMCA’s Evening Institute for Young Men. Although Winchell, a police detective, easily outs Artie after the first class, he is impressed by her “keen investigative mind” and refuses to expel his bright student. Eager to practice what she has learned, Artie and her friend Theodore, an eccentric upper-class bachelor and student of magic, head to Boston Common to investigate a mysterious scream heard the previous evening. When they stop an attempted abduction of a young woman and Artie’s class is abruptly canceled, the duo probe further into a series of unsolved kidnappings and gradually uncover a malevolent conspiracy that leads from City Hall to an abandoned subway tunnel construction site that may house an ancient evil. Bushnell keeps his fantastical elements light but believable, focusing instead on the affectionate (but not romantic or sexual) friendship between Artie and Theodore, two appealing social misfits who together “navigate the world better than either of them could alone.” Also compelling is Artie’s gradual recognition of her real self (“not exactly a man, but maybe something other than a girl”) as she grows more comfortable in her suit and enjoys the freedom it allows. Unfortunately, the abrupt deus ex machina ending undermines Artie’s budding agency and gives the impression the author didn't know how to finish his novel.

An entertaining urban fantasy.