REAL BAD THINGS

A confessed killer’s return home brings long-buried secrets to life with a series of seismic jolts.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge in the 25 years since Jane Mooney told the police in Maud, Arkansas, that she killed her stepfather, Warren Ingram, by pushing him off a boat. Arrested but released in the absence of a body, she shook off the dust of Maud Proper and its aspiring neighbor Maud Bottoms and left for Boston, where queer androgynous folks like Jane faced less social ostracism. Now the discovery of a skeleton in the river locks brings Jane back to Maud to accept legal responsibility for the crime that ended whatever relationship she had with her mother, Diane Ingram. As the Facebook group Let’s Talk About Maud, spiced with inside information from somebody dubbed Lovelace, buzzes with scathing opinions about the return of “Lezzie Borden,” Det. Benjamin Hampton, who’s Black and gay, takes charge of the case. But Jane is soon sidelined by her ex-girlfriend Georgia Lee Lane and her stepbrother, Jason Tran, both of whom also confess to the murder. When Hampton reacts with bewilderment, Jane comments, “I’ve never met a police department less interested in solving crimes.” You have to feel for both the cops and Jane’s intimates, since Ford seems determined to throw shock after shock into the mix until readers may find themselves looking ahead to see how many pages are left that might accommodate more surprises. The last couple of twists are the most likely to be predicted by anyone who’s made it that far.

A real lot of things.