MIRANDA AND THE D-DAY CAPER

An amateur detective investigates a seditious plot orchestrated by right-wing extremists in this mystery.

Miranda Davis lives a modestly ordinary life as a small-town realtor in North Carolina. But she garners some minor acclaim as an “intrepid amateur sleuth” when she solves a murder mystery involving a “poisoned pen perpetrator.” Her new reputation is likely the reason why her cousin Skip—they grew up together in Indiana—seeks her out with a peculiar problem: He believes he has inadvertently stumbled on a terrorist conspiracy. He reveals that while working at a radio station in New York City, he began to mockingly echo the doomsday pronouncements of colleague and “ultra right-wing pundit” Russ Mathews. Unfortunately, he must have struck a chord with someone—he started receiving threatening messages and believed he was being watched. He also noticed suspicious, if heavy-handed, clues on Mathews’ desk—a note referring to “D-Day minus four” and a red pushpin marking the area on a map where the 9/11 memorial sits. Miranda is understandably incredulous but begins to come around when her cousin is assaulted; his cat is kidnapped; and Mathews is spotted in the area stalking Skip. Frome constructs a complex and eventful mystery around Skip’s findings, one that increasingly relegates Mathews to a minor role but that may implicate President Harper. Harper apparently receives counsel from Lucian Clay, a right-wing political consultant “nostalgic for the 1950s and the days when women were content to take care of the home.” The plot can be bewildering—it is, as Miranda observes, sometimes an “impossibly foggy chase.” In addition, the tone of the work is uneven—it swings somewhat jarringly from being a “goofy escapade” to a chronicle of a “nefarious” conspiracy. Nevertheless, this is an intelligently conceived mystery and an entertaining one as well.

A worthwhile conspiracy tale despite its literary flaws.