Running circles around the bad guys
The days are getting shorter as summer draws to a close. There’s still time for a couple more beach reads before the water gets too frigid to swim. Here are two chilling new mystery novels that might give you a few shivers:
“Smaller and Smaller Circles” by F.H. Batacan
(Soho Crime, 359 pages, $26.95)
The Payatas landfill is a massive dumpsite in the Philippines where thousands of impoverished Filipinos eke out an existence by scavenging through the garbage. F.H. Batacan has set her crime novel “Smaller and Smaller Circles” in the teeming slum area nearby. Life is cheap in Payatas. When young boys begin to disappear and then turn up dead amidst the piles of refuse it doesn’t merit much notice.
Then a couple of Catholic priests become aware of these suspicious deaths. Father Gus Saenz is a forensic anthropologist. His colleague Father Jerome Lucero is a psychologist. They wonder; is a serial killer preying upon these unfortunate youths? The priests are convinced this is the case.
Crime fighting duos are a common convention, but I cannot ever recall encountering a pair of priests who were doing the sleuthing. Father Saenz is the cerebral mentor. Father Lucero is his enthusiastic acolyte. Together they analyze the crime scenes and uncover clues that put them on the killer’s trail.
The priests possess complementary skill sets. Saenz performs crucial forensic analysis while Lucero tries to get inside the head of the killer. The perpetrator realizes that they are closing in on him. He’s unpredictable so we fear for these brave priests.
This book won the Philippine National Book Award. The author, a native of Manila, is a former Philippine intelligence operative. This auspicious debut novel is considered to be the first Filipino crime novel.
“Down Among the Dead Men” by Peter Lovesey
(Soho Crime, 373 pages, $27.95)
Peter Lovesey is a veteran English novelist who published his first crime novel 45 years ago. His new mystery “Down Among the Dead Men” is the latest in a series which features Detective Peter Diamond of the Bath (England) Police. Diamond’s world weary witticisms carry us merrily along through these character-driven tales.
As the story opens a petty criminal is buying some tools that will help him to steal new luxury cars. He spots a likely target, but after stealing the car, the police suddenly appear and arrest him. It seems that the car was reported stolen before he even saw it. There’s money inside it and something far worse is in the trunk.
Fast forward seven years. The car thief is serving time for murder. He claims he knew nothing about the body in the trunk. And along that stretch of coastline people keep vanishing, never to be seen again. A local detective named Henrietta begins to investigate all the missing persons reports.
But then Henrietta is suddenly being suspended and Diamond and his boss Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore are brought in to clean up her mess.
Lovesey takes seemingly incongruous story lines and ties them tidily together.
You’ll find charming lingo like this:“Brute of a headache. I don’t know if it’s a hangover or the bonk on the conk.” Detective Henrietta is a scene stealer. Lovesey has featured her before in previous books.