The Books of Mirrors E. O. Chirovici Atria, 288 pages, $35

The retired police detective who ultimately solves the tangled murder case in this first novel suffers from Alzheimer’s. The disease is in its early stages, but still, a sleuth with Alzheimer’s? It’s questionable. No matter, in a book with a narrative that seems calculated to keep the reader permanently off balance, the dementia-afflicted detective comes across as a not unusual character.

The story, set in NYC, is told in three long sections by, in order, a book agent, a former newspaper reporter and the retired detective. The case is the murder of a Princeton psychology professor.

As the tale moves into the present day, plenty of shady characters turn up as highly possible suspects in the killing.