CBR17 Bingo: Migrant – Both books involve characters who move to places they expect no one knows them and try, with varying success, to rebuild themselves into new shapes.
The Killer Question by Janice Hallett – 5 stars
Sue and Mal run a perfectly average British pub with an above average weekly quiz night, but the arrival of a mysterious new team that dominates the competition and the discovery of a body in the nearby river sends their lives into a tailspin.
This is my third Janice Hallett mystery, and it has all the usual Hallett hallmarks – an epistolary format reconstructing a bygone crime, a cast of quirky everyday characters in an insular community, and an apparently cozy story which ultimately unravels to reveal a dark heart. I’ve always enjoyed her books, but there was always something that kept me from absolutely loving them – until now.
I think Hallett’s finally hit upon the right combination of factors – the mystery is strange and compelling without becoming completely outlandish (see The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels) and the cast is quirky and disagreeably human without becoming unsympathetic (see The Appeal). The humor and the voyeuristic joy of reading these characters’ correspondence rather leads you down the garden path until, quite unexpectedly, you catch sight of the body again and realize exactly how high the stakes are. The last few pages are the perfect sting in the tale.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.
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Kiss Her Goodbye by Lisa Gardner – 3.75 stars
Frankie Elkins, a freelance missing persons investigator, goes to Tucson in search of Afghan refugee Sabera Ahmadi, who has been missing for several weeks without much apparent concern from the police – or from her husband. But as she investigates further, it becomes clear that the danger may have followed Sabera from her homeland.
The Frankie Elkins series continues its evolution from the mystery genre towards straight-up thrillers, but I don’t mind so much in this book. It suits this story better, where Gardner weaves together Frankie’s investigation and Sabera’s narrative about what happened in Afghanistan and the refugee camps. It’s clear Gardner did her research when constructing Sabera’s story, as well as the various social workers who worked with resettling in the Ahmadis. I also enjoyed the complex portrayal of Sabera and her husband Isaad, which made them very enjoyable to investigate.
I did think Frankie fell on her feet a little easily in regards to her Tucson home base, but I suppose it gave us a fun supporting cast of characters so I didn’t mind. A spy character who enters halfway through the book is similarly unrealistic but fun. I especially had trouble suspending my disbelief when it came to Sabera’s gift for patterns though – it strikes an oddly supernatural note in an otherwise (attempting to be, at least!) realistic book. Ditto Zahra’s prodigal gifts. I definitely had to switch off my brain a bit as the story went on to stop thinking and just enjoy.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.