aka J. K. Rowling |
Bookstore shelves are overflowing with mysteries – it’s a
popular genre not only because of the element of suspense but because most
mysteries, and these include espionage thrillers, are plot driven, not a
whole lot of descriptive prose or literary technique, thus easy to read and
often just plain fun. The proverbial page-turner. I was always a fan of English mysteries like Sherlock
Holmes and Agatha Christie and the great Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler,
and although not well known, W. Somerset Maugham wrote terrific espionage
tales, and of course I devoured Nancy Drew as a girl.
In the last twenty years, the
selection of mysteries has exploded, thus sometimes difficult to find just the
right one, and I tend to favor more literary works – not a snob exactly, just
protective of my reading time. Although often disturbing, I admired the “Girl
With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy,” and I am a fan of Henning Menkell and
Elizabeth George, so once I discovered, as we all did recently, that a first
mystery novel was in fact the work of JK Rowling, my curiosity was piqued. The
critics were right: it’s a very good murder mystery with fully formed and
diverse characters and an ending that mostly works, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading
her often elegant prose and detailed descriptions of people and place. I also
liked the protagonist: Cormoran Strike, a wounded veteran, the bastard
child of a celebrity, a man with heart who struggles with his own demons, but
not to the detriment of the mystery at hand. Another great touch was the
introduction of the fledgling assistant-detective, Robyn, a temp who has always
wanted to be a private investigator, and Rowling has successfully set up Strike
and Robyn as a continuing tale, so watch for #2 of “The Cuckoo’s Calling” [by
Robert Galbraith].
I will say that Rowling's inherent optimism operates in these pages, as it did in Harry Potter despite the progressively bleak story lines, so unlike her Swedish counterparts, she will never wear you down and make you want to crawl under the covers and weep for humanity.
Just before
I read JKR, I read a novel entitled “Don’t I Know You” by Karen Shepard,
published some years ago but only recently risen to the top of my pile. Not a
traditional whodunnit, rather a literary work with a mystery at its core. The
story unfolds via three different characters who all have something to do with
the death of one woman. This is solid, often riveting psychological drama that
delves deeply into parenting and romantic relationships, and the dark side of
mental illness. The book takes place in 1976, well before Internet, emails or
cell phones, at a time when communications were more often elusive or contradictory.
While I lingered with JRK, enjoying the steady methodical connection of the
dots, this novel is a page-turner, you simply have to know who did what to whom
and why.
One other mystery crossed my desk
recently: a self-published whodunnit that takes place in Laguna Beach. I
confess that I did not finish reading “South on Pacific Coast Highway” by Gary
Paul Corcoran because I found the language a bit too clichéd, the ghosts of too many gumshoes hovering on every page, but the setting and some of the people will feel extremely familiar to the SoCal
reader and it seems a good yarn. Corcoran, who lives in LA now, lived down here
for many years, so he knows of what he writes and he writes with ease, so if
you are looking for a grittier mystery with a familiar locale, the Kindle
edition is available at Amazon for just $3.99 and I’m sure Laguna Beach Books,
if they don’t have it, can get it.
Stay posted on all things reading
and writing here, on my blog at www.ocinsite.com, and on Twitter: @OCBookBlogger.