Likable, stubborn, protagonist makes welcome return
Becky Masterman made a splash with her first novel, 2012’s Rage Against the Dying. It was shortlisted for both the Debut Dagger and the Edgar awards and introduced 59-year-old Brigid Quinn, a retired FBI agent who finds herself deeply involved in an unofficial investigation.
With Fear The Darkness, Masterman cements her place as a solid talent in the mystery genre. Where Rage Against the Dying was about a serial killer with a passion for dead women’s bodies, Fear The Darkness hits Quinn closer to home. She takes on a private investigation case involving a dead teenager, whose drowning death has been classified as an accident.
Quinn discovers that shortly before the 14-year-old’s death he was videotaped playing a choking game with a friend that involves passing out. She also discovers that the boy’s stepfather, a doctor, has not been entirely honest with his wife, the boy’s mother, about the death.
Quinn, who has always been a lone wolf, now has a friend, Mallory, and a live-in niece, Gemma-Kate. Not being a very intimate person, she’s not entirely comfortable with either relationship, but she’s working on it. Quinn and Mallory enjoy coffees, lunches and wine together, while Quinn and Gemma-Kate cautiously navigate their new relationship.
As the book begins, one of Quinn’s pet pugs (they’re nameless) eats a poison frog while home alone with Gemma-Kate. The pug will be all right, but it needs medical treatment and Quinn (who is naturally quite suspicious), begins to think her niece may have poisoned the dog on purpose.
Quinn’s husband, Carlo, who used to be a priest and who doesn’t know all of the details of her past, is astonished at Quinn’s accusations of Gemma-Kate.
Quinn is a very likable protagonist — she’s tough, but she’s also vulnerable and just a tad paranoid. These traits were apparent in Rage Against the Dying, and they’re even more noticeable here. Her self-doubt tends to be around other people thinking she might be a bit crazy, and Masterman pulls off this characterization effectively.
Although both of these books do include violence, it’s not unbearable, gory violence.
There are shootings and close calls, but most of the action takes place inside Quinn’s head.
Both novels are set in Tucson, Ariz., a locale that plays a starring role in the stories. In Rage Against the Dying, the climate is perfect for mummification, while in Fear the Darkness, the poisonous frog and a huge cactus are used in the plot.
Masterman has gained her crime expertise honestly. In real life, she is the senior acquisitions editor for a press specializing in medical textbooks for forensic examiners and law enforcement. But clearly her career as successful mystery author has momentum.