Torn tinsel
Hollywood exposed, an investigative trio return and James Lee Burke is back.
EVERYBODY KNOWS by Jordan Harper (Faber, $27.99)
Most publicists try to get their clients into the public eye, cutting through the noise to garner maximum attention. Then there’s Mae Pruett, for whom any publicity is not good publicity. Mae’s job is to strangle stories pre-birth, to divert attention like a magician – look here, not here. With Everybody Knows, Hollywood screenwriter Jordan Harper ( The Mentalist, Gotham) may have written the best noir of recent times, and “black bag” publicist Mae is our navigator on a skincrawling journey through an amoral landscape. The action kick-starts at the infamous Chateau Marmont, death-place of Jim Belushi. Mae’s client, a fading 20-something starlet, has a black eye from a paid-for-liaison gone wrong. When Mae puts that fire out, another flares. Then Mae’s boss is gunned down, taking secrets with him, and Mae finds herself teaming with ex-lover and ex-sheriff ’s deputy Chris Tamburro, who works similar dark arts as private security. Can they survive when the beast they’ve served turns on them? Harper’s writing invigorates a sordid journey behind the curtain of modern-day Hollywood, where money, power and excess feast on broken dreams. An instant classic.
THE LAST WORD by Elly Griffiths (Quercus, $37.99)
For something a lot lighter, try the engaging new novel from British bestseller Elly Griffiths. The Last Word sees the welcome return of unusual investigative trio Natalka, Edwin and Benedict from Griffiths’ Gold Dagger-shortlisted The Postscript Murders. Benedict, Natalka’s beau, continues to run his coffee shop on the southern coast of England while Natalka and elderly Edwin dabble in minor investigations day-to-day. But with Natalka’s mother Valentyna having moved into their tiny flat from war-torn Ukraine as her brother fights the Russians,
tensions are high. What they need is a good murder to solve! Local writer Melody Chambers is found dead and her family suspect foul play. Especially after Edwin notices strange connections in the obituary pages. When Edwin and Benedict go undercover at a rural writers’ retreat, the body count rises. Griffiths expertly reels us in, delivering a fabulous tale full of wit, intrigue and wonderful characters. Thoroughly enjoyable.
HARBOR LIGHTS by James Lee Burke (Orion, $37.99)
For 50 years, James Lee Burke has been leading the way among American novelists in general, not just crime writers, thanks to his lyrical, multilayered explorations of the darkness, addiction and evil that can exist within humanity. Harbor Lights brings the same and different for long-time Burke fans. This time, there’s no former New Orleans homicide detective Dave Robicheaux, and it’s an impressive collection of eight thematically (and genealogically) entwined stories rather than a single tale, but there’s plenty of what we’ve come to expect. In each story, he soaks us in time and place, abuts richly evoked settings with stark violence, and makes us witness to cruelty and humanity through the eyes of downtrodden characters, while crafting a semi-permeable membrane between eras. Two prison inmates are set up to fight each other in Big Midnight Special; a history professor takes matters into his own hands after his daughter is beaten up at a bar in The Assault; a farmer and his grandson try to protect Mexican immigrants in Deportees; and federal agents intimidate a war veteran who reported a burning oil tanker in the titular tale. ▮
Burke makes us witness to cruelty and humanity through the eyes of the downtrodden.