DIAMOND CITY

Boncek offers an introspective novel about the murder of a teenager in an isolated religious community.

In 1955, Art Moran, the sole police officer in the small, upstate town of Fosterdale, New York, is in way over his head when he’s called to investigate the killing of a teenage girl in a religious settlement on the outskirts of town. The murdered girl, Keziah Diamond, is the younger sister of his former high school girlfriend, Becky, who secretly had his child. Fast-spreading word of the murder stirs up long-held prejudices the townspeople have for the people of Diamond City. Art struggles to get justice for Keziah’s family and community, putting himself at odds with not only local townspeople, but also members of his own family. When the mayor asks the county government to remove all of Diamond City’s children from their homes, due to alleged neglect, the remaining community members resort to an act of desperation that leaves Art traumatized and the murder unsolved. Nearly four decades later, in 1992, Tirzah Carter, Becky’s daughter and Keziah’s niece, returns to Fosterdale to learn more about her past and realizes who the real killer is. The reopening of this cold case challenges the townspeople to confront their prejudices, and Art, now an aging loner, returns to face his own past. This story is, in many ways, about small communities, showing that the smaller and more close-knit they are, the more they shun people who don’t fit in. Boncek effectively contrasts the remote, cultlike community of Diamond City with that of Fosterdale, a quintessential American small town, and the latter comes off as much worse. The murder isn’t a mystery for very long, and it eventually becomes a poorly kept secret that the town sits on for nearly 40 years. One might expect the gruesome opening scene in a thriller, but the story unfurls more as a thoughtful exploration of the way people’s lives are shaped (or misshapen) by expectations and prejudices. Overall, the novel nimbly presents a crime story with fully realized characters and resonant themes.

A well-crafted tale of isolation, redemption, and love amid societal constraints.