THE WATER'S EDGE
By Karin Fossum, translated by Charlotte Barslund, Random House, 227 pages, $24.95
I find this Norwegian series featuring Inspector Konrad Sejer irresistible. Karin Fossum is a powerful writer whose characters are haunting and memorable. This is particularly so in The Water's Edge, which is, on the surface, a conventional police drama about a dead child. At it's core, however, The Water's Edge is about love, loss, lust and despair.
The story begins as a desperate man lugs the body of a child into a woodsy glade. He has committed a dreadful crime and he's aware of it. As he flees the scene, he's spotted by a couple on a walk. Later, they will recall him when the body is discovered. A description of him and his car will be widely published. He will hide and he will fear.
Fossum takes us right into the daily angst-filled life of a miserable killer. Not so much to generate sympathy but to explain. As the case continues, under Sejer's careful supervision, the killer's terror continues to escalate. And then another child goes missing.
There are several different threads in this terrific novel and they're all woven perfectly so that they come together at the end. This is definitely Fossum's finest novel so far, which puts her near the top of the crowded new Scandinavian pyramid of mystery writers.
BLOODLINE
By Mark Billingham, McArthur & Company, 344 pages, $24.95
If you haven't already discovered the brilliant Thorne series by Mark Billingham, this is the book with which to start. Not many British writers know how to spin a serial-killer suspense novel, but this one sizzles from the first page.
A woman named Debbie Mitchell and her son, Jason, are in the park. There are pigeons and a dog. The boy wants to stop and play. The woman is terrified, pulling on his arm, heading away. The terror builds as she sees the man she's fleeing behind her. She heads for the train tracks.
From that terrifying opening, we switch to DI Tom Thorne and his girlfriend, Louise Porter. They learn that the baby Louise is carrying is “not viable.” Surgery is in order. Thorne is by her side when a murder call comes in. A woman has been bludgeoned and then suffocated. There is a sliver of celluloid in her hand. It has meaning, but what?
Soon, two more bodies turn up, with more slivers, and a hateful pattern emerges. These are the children of women killed 15 years earlier, murdered by a serial killer who was tried, convicted and imprisoned and who has recently died of cancer. Their families are being victimized twice.
Like all Thorne novels, this one has an elegantly sculpted plot with a truly clever twist. It's also about the dogged work of police investigation and, in this particular novel, the complexities of love and loss.
STILL MIDNIGHT
By Denise Mina, McArthur & company, 356 pages, $24.95
Still Midnight is Denise Mina's best novel yet and, after the kudos for Garnethill, that's saying plenty. If you're a fan of Frances Fyfield or Minette Walters and haven't already discovered Mina, now's the perfect time.
The setting is Glasgow, where DS Alex Morrow is the least-loved member of the local squad, considered bitchy and unreliable. Definitely not a “team player.” Her office-mate, DS Grant Bannerman, is the chief's fair-haired lad. He's got all the political smarts Morrow lacks and she hates him not just for his effortless politicking but for his selfish attitude, which jeopardizes police work.
Then a case emerges, an apparent home invasion gone wrong, that turns into a kidnapping and a big story. It's Bannerman who is selected to head up the investigation, with Morrow as the secondary. Morrow's skills war with her dislike for Bannerman and her commitment to the job. At the same time, her own complicated life is drifting awry.
Mina builds the story beautifully, taking in turn the investigation, the kidnappers, the victim and the family, plus a complex and fascinating history. There is a twist at the end that no one will see coming. Mina is definitely a rising star on the crime scene.
THE ANNIVERSARY MAN
By R.J. Ellory, Orion, 474 pages, $24.95
Britain's R.J. Ellory's elegantly styled novel is set in New York and, in a book where place is paramount, he excels. The story begins with a horrific murder in New Jersey when a 16-year-old boy sees his girlfriend savagely killed by a madman calling himself “The Hammer of God.” The boy, John Costello, survives and, as a haunted adult, 20 years later, he's the one man who can spot a new serial killer hunting kids.
This is a fat descriptive novel that takes you into the heart of the city and the mind of a very, very damaged survivor. By the author of A Quiet Belief In Angels.
LOCKED IN
By Marcia Muller, Grand Central, 282 pages, $29.99
Sharon McCone, at 27 novels, is the longest-running femme PI series we have. At a point where virtually all series are exhausted, Marcia Muller shows why the Crime Writers of America made her a Grand Master. She takes the locked-in character – immobilized, mute, paralyzed – and makes her central to the novel.
But instead of the old Cornell Woolrich concept of the victim being locked in, this time it's the victim as well as the investigator. Muller has McCone in a rehab hospital with a bullet in the brain as the investigative team led by her lover, Hy Ripinsky, tries to solve the case, with McCone communicating through by blinks. Then, as the case opens up, Ripinsky decides that justice may not be swift or sufficient. This is one of Muller's best novels.
