THE PLAYER
substitute teacher while waiting for the big break that will write his ticket to the Vegas magic-show circuit, that little episode has come back to haunt him with the news that his DNA matches the semen found in the body of Sherry Allen, a single mother who was raped and murdered. It’s all just a misunderstanding, Harvey tells his mother, his buddy David Hu, his lawyer (and high school classmate) Hannah Fisher, and Sgt. Morton of the LA Sheriff ’s Department; he’s never even met Sherry Allen. But the cops, building what looks like an ironclad case, arrest him and clap him in jail. Broke, unemployable, facing eviction from his apartment and unable to afford even Hannah’s cut-rate services, Harvey is desperate to clear himself. “Who’s better at figuring out mysteries than a magician?” he reasons. Well, yes and no. Harvey is no great shakes as a detective, but he makes an irresistible deer in the headlights: part wiseacre, part sad-sack, all nebbish.
Parks, Brad Minotaur (336 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Mar. 4, 2014 978-1-250-04408-2 978-1-4668-4269-4 e-book A mysterious epidemic of illnesses and accidents in Newark’s South Ward is the tip of a very dirty iceberg in reporter Carter Ross’ fifth case. In the months before she died, 77-yearold Edna Foster’s health dramatically declined. She got recurrent attacks of something that acted like the flu but kept going away after a few days. Then she broke her leg and after that, her arm. After surveying similarly disquieting results among Edna’s neighbors, her granddaughter, medical student Jackie Orr, is convinced that something is rotten in the South Ward and asks Carter Ross, of the Newark Eagle-Examiner, to look into it. Taking newly hatched intern Neesha “Pigeon” Krishnamurthy under his wing, Carter (The Good Cop, 2013, etc.) begins to dig into the particulars of the McAlister Arms, a mammoth new construction project adjoining the blighted neighborhood. But soon after he interviews Vaughn McAlister, who, together with his father, Barry, heads McAlister Properties, Vaughn is beaten to death, and Carter’s editor, Tina Thompson, pulls him off the investigation, demanding he instead find out who killed the developer. The murder will end up closely linked to the rash of medical problems in the South Ward, but before Carter can uncover the connection, he’ll have to straighten out his romantic life, which involves some unwelcome news from his ex-lover Tina, some assertive moves on the part of his sometime-lover, Eagle-Examiner librarian Kira O’Brien, and an awkward episode that involves Pigeon, some potent drinks and a big misunderstanding. It’s typical, and typically satisfying, that even after the mystery is solved, Carter will still have to face his sister’s wedding, to which both Tina and Kira have managed to get invited. Muckraking has rarely been so meaty or so funny.
MURDER AT CAPE THREE POINTS
Quartey, Kwei Soho Crime (336 pp.) $26.95 | Mar. 18, 2014 978-1-61695-389-8
In Ghana, Accra DI Darko Dawson’s third case—the murder of an oil executive and his equally prominent wife—is his biggest and most ambitious yet. Charles or Fiona Smith-Aidoo must have made someone very angry indeed, for they were both bound and shot before Charles was beheaded, his eye cut out and the pair of them set adrift in a canoe that soon reached an oil rig where their beloved niece, Dr. Sapphire Smith-Aidoo, was on hand to see their bodies discovered. Superintendent David Hammond, the regional crime officer in charge of Sekondi HQ, has made no progress in the four months since. So Chief Superintendent Lartey dispatches Dawson to assist him. The new investigator—whose presence in Accra is sorely missed by his wife, Christine, and their son, Hosiah, who’s just recovering from life-saving heart surgery—doesn’t exactly get a hero’s welcome upon his arrival. Even more daunting, the murders could be rooted in any number of motives. Charles’ job at Malgam Oil brought him close to some highly sensitive officials and issues. Kwesi DeSouza, the rival Fiona defeated for political office, was clearly resentful of her victory. The Smith-Aidoos’ family tree has tangled roots, and Charles’ refusal to help secure medical aid for his cousin Jason Sarbah’s dying daughter, Angela, deepened the rift between them. And the murders may be linked to the earlier execution of Goilco CEO Lawrence Tetteh or to tribal traditions that demand ritual sacrifice. All in all, it doesn’t look as if Dawson will be getting back to Accra any time soon. The windup may not be as satisfying as the complications, but Quartey (Death at the Voyager Hotel, 2013, etc.) lays out what feel like endless possibilities with exemplary patience and clarity, unveiling world beneath world in Dawson’s Ghana.
THE AMAZING HARVEY
Passman, Don Minotaur (320 pp.) $25.99 | $12.99 e-book | Feb. 25, 2014 978-1-250-04187-6 978-1-4668-3914-4 e-book Passman (Mirage, 2000, etc.) launches a new series starring a sleuthing magician whose greatest trick ever might just be releasing himself from a murder rap. When he was young and foolish, Harvey Kendall didn’t think twice about driving his college friends home when he was only slightly less drunk. But Harvey, needlephobic from his treatment for childhood leukemia, wasn’t happy when the police told him that he must give a DNA sample for his DUI arrest. Now that he’s settled in Los Angeles, serving as a |
kirkus.com
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mystery
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15 february 2014
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