“End of Story,” by A.J. Finn (William Morrow)
A.J. Finn’s “The Woman in the Window” was a huge best-seller. “End of Story” is destined to be, too. It’s a mystery more than a thriller, and a tightly crafted page-turner.
Literary critic Nicky Hunter is a huge fan of mystery writer Sebastian Trapp. So she’s thrilled when Trapp, who’s dying, asks her to write the story of his life. She’s invited to be a guest in the San Francisco family home with Trapp, his second wife, Diana, and his daughter, Maddy. Perhaps Nicky can solve a mystery or two while she’s there, Trapp hints: the disappearance of his first wife and son 20 years earlier.
The book is slow starting, as Finn sets up his cast of characters, but picks up midway with another murder. Nicky’s confronted with a cast of family members, any one of whom might be a killer. The ending is a shocker, and you’ll want to read the book a second time to pick up the clues.
“Don’t Let the Devil Ride,” by Ace Atkins (William Morrow)
After her wealthy husband, Dean, disappears, Addison McKellar discovers his company is a sham and his secretary an answering-service sleezeball. When Dean’s friends stonewall her, Addison hires her father’s old friend, Porter Hayes, to look for him. The Memphis PI discovers that rather than operating a construction company, Dean McKellar is enmeshed in the international arms trade — and numerous sexual encounters to boot.
Addison is ready to file for divorce, but all is forgiven after she comes home to find Dean in the shower. She falls for his story of being attacked and hospitalized in London. That’s when Hayes goes to work to uncover the real Dean McKellar. Finally realizing that Dean is a fake with plans for her, Addison teams up with Hayes.
Not every author can combine murder with humor, but Atkins, who wrote some of the Robert Parker mysteries, is adept at producing serious mystery stories with a light side. In addition to wild Addison and cool Hayes, there is an aging actress who once starred in an Elvis movie and an international arms thug with a crew of hired killers. “Don’t Let the Devil Ride” is fun.
“City in Ruins,” by Don Winslow (William Morrow)
Some 30 years in the works, “City in Ruins” is Don Winslow’s final book in the trilogy of Danny Ryan, a young Rhode Island gangster. At the end of “City on Fire,” the first in the series, Danny, a dockworker, kills a cop and flees to the West Coast with his aging father and baby son. By the end of “City of Dreams” (No. 2), Danny’s a movie and Las Vegas mogul. Now, in book three, he is a Las Vegas kingpin, whose every hotel and casino is wildly successful. So what’s to worry about? It seems his past is catching up with him, and he’s sacrificing his good-guy persona to stay on top.
Wiseguys crop up all over as Danny’s boyhood crew takes on the merciless killers of his competitors. Meanwhile, back home, old fights are still simmering. “City in Ruins” is a nice wrapup to Danny’s story, although the first book of the series is the best. (Las Vegas billionaires aren’t quite as gripping as violent young mobsters.)
“Good Half Gone,” by Tarryn Fisher (Graydon House)
It’s been a decade since Iris’ twin sister, Piper, was kidnapped, dragged into a car as Iris watched in horror. The cops declared Piper a runaway and didn’t believe Iris’ story of abduction until it was too late. Still obsessed with finding out what happened to her sister, Iris scores an internship at Shoel Island’s hospital for the criminally insane. She thinks the answer lurks there.
Of course, an isolated hospital of insane criminals is a good place for lurking, and the inmates aren’t the only ones with secrets. Iris’ grandmother, who helps raise Iris’ 9-year-old son, urges her to get out, but Iris won’t. After all, what kind of heroine would leave before the roof caves in? Too late, Iris finds the answers to her questions — as well as some she didn’t ask.
“Ghost Island,” by Max Seeck (Berkley)
When Helsinki detective Jessica Niemi is put on leave, she takes off for a month’s stay on a remote island. Known as Ghost Island, the site is haunted by Maija, a small girl in a blue coat who appears late at night. She’s an orphan who lived in a local asylum after World War II. Each day at 2 a.m., she would stand on the end of a pier, waiting for her father to come for her. One morning, she failed to return.
Staying in the hotel with Jessica are three old people, also former asylum orphans, known as “the birds of spring.” When one of the “birds” drowns at Maija’s pier, Jessica is drawn into what appears to be a murder. As she’s drawn deeper into the mystery, she discovers two other people connected to Maija and the asylum have died similar deaths. But Jessica isn’t sure what’s real and what’s not.
“The Last Verse,” by Caroline Frost (William Morrow)
Would-be songwriter Twyla Higgins runs off from her conservative Texas home to Nashville, where she expects to be discovered. What she really discovers is a wild life and a love-her-and-leave-her boyfriend. Still, she finds a few venues that let her sing her songs. Twyla is on her way until she’s involved in a murder. Her budding career is over, except for a single song that she sang only once. Another singer picks it up and it becomes a hit. Twyla must decide if claiming the song as her own is worth being targeted as a killer.
Sandra Dallas is a Denver writer and freelance reviewer.
