Unearthing dark deeds
Val McDermid adds to her impressive legacy with a tale that delves into Highlands history.
Decades ago, Christchurch’s Dame Ngaio Marsh was one of four “Queens of Crime’’ of the golden age of detective fiction. Choosing modern-day equivalents would provoke sharp debate, though it’d be along the lines of “right, so Val McDermid; now let’s discuss the other three’’. The Scottish storyteller continues to push boundaries, even after 30 years at the forefront. In
BROKEN GROUND (Little, Brown, $34.99),
DCI Karen Pirie of the Historic Cases Unit is challenged on several fronts. Privately grieving the violent loss of her colleague and lover, Pirie has a new subordinate foisted upon her while a serial rape investigation is under-way, then a body emerges from a Highlands peat bog. McDermid switches between past and present as villains who had long thought they got away with it are hunted. Pirie is also faced with a new crime, one she thought she’d prevented. Deftly drawn characters populate an absorbing tale with plenty of humanity among the dark deeds. It’s another jewel in the Queen’s crown.
Former Norwegian policeman Jørn Lier Horst similarly delves into long-shelved cases in
THE KATHARINA CODE (translated by Anne Bruce, Michael Joseph, $37),
the 12th in his award-winning William Wisting series (the seventh translated). A refreshing change from the hard-drinking, pensive loner trope, Chief Inspector Wisting is a family man with a largely positive outlook despite the dark deeds he investigates. A widower and now grandfather, every October he hauls out old files from a case he could never crack: the bizarre disappearance of Katharina Haugen. When Katharina’s husband, now a friendly acquaintance with Wisting, vanishes on the anniversary and an ambitious young colleague turns up new evidence about another long-missing woman, Wisting is plunged into a testing case, and is put in a tricky personal position. Horst does a fine job blending personal and police procedural, with a strong sense of authenticity. A wintry chill rises from the pages in this absorbing tale that would be a great read for long-time fans as well as those new to the series.
Minnesota author Mindy
Mejia garnered global acclaim last year with her outstanding rural noir The Last Act Of Hattie Hoffman. She ably avoids any post-breakthrough slump with her latest, LEAVE NO
TRACE (Quercus, $34.99), another compelling page-turner set in small towns and hostile wilderness. Speech therapist Maya Stark is tasked with giving voice to a violent young man, Lucas Blackthorn, who has reappeared a decade after vanishing with his father in the forest-rimmed lakes of the Boundary Waters. Their ravaged campsite suggested a bear attack and they were presumed dead. Now, he is a celebrity patient at Congdon Psychiatric Facility, and Maya needs to get him to reveal his secrets in the very place she was hospitalised as a teenager. Two people with plenty of secrets must learn to work together, even as rules get in their way. Mejia ramps up the page-whirring jeopardy while dosing readers with plenty of humanity. A real affection for Minnesota’s natural world comes through in a novel elevated by fresh turns of phrase and sharp insight.
Their ravaged campsite suggested a bear attack and they were presumed dead.