It’s hard to resist a good historical thriller, and the month of September ushers in two bang-up thrillers that will take readers back to early-1900s New York City for a murder mystery involving Sigmund Freud and to pre-World War II Paris, where a popular nightclub becomes the meeting spot for a den of spies.
Former CIA analyst-turned-author and Denver-area scribe Francine Matthews has written edgy, modern-day thrillers (“The Cut- out,” “Blown”) and mystery novels (“Death in a Cold Hard Light,” “Death in the Off-Season”) with equal skill and facility. Matthews also writes a series of mystery novels featuring Jane Austen (“Jane and Her Lordship’s Legacy,” etc.) under the Stephanie Barron pseudonym. So it’s not surprising that her latest novel edges into territory once claimed by the likes of Robert Ludlum.
Set in Paris between March and June of 1940, just as Hitler and his troops are threatening to invade, “The Alibi Club” is centered on a nightclub where government officials, popular entertainers, businessmen and spies gather to unwind. It’s the sort of place in which one might expect Humphrey Bogart or Ingrid Bergman to suddenly appear.
Into this den of iniquity stroll Memphis Jones, an African-American jazz singer (modeled after Josephine Baker); Irene Curie, daughter of the famous, like-named scientists; Joe Hearst, an American diplomat doing double duty as a spy; and Sally King, a famous model working for Coco Chanel.
When Sally’s lover (a lawyer named Philip Stilwell) is found murdered, everyone believes it to be the result of a sex crime. But there is more to Stilwell’s death than meets the eye: Someone murdered him over a military secret.
As is always the case in such thrillers, Sally, Joe, Memphis and Irene all harbor secrets of their own. And as each digs deeper into the mystery behind Stilwell’s murder, they become more deeply involved in a scheme to keep a dangerous weapon from falling into the hands of the Nazis.
Sure, it all sounds a bit familiar, but Matthews tosses in just enough originality and thrills – not to mention some new takes on real-life figures like John Foster and Allan Dulles, Ambassador William Bullitt, Irene Joliot-Curie, et al. – to keep readers wide-eyed and sleep-deprived in a headlong rush to find out what happens to these unsung heroes of espionage.
First-time author Jed Rubenfeld appears to have done a remarkable job of research for his debut thriller, “The Interpretation of Murder.” Lots of terrific historical mysteries manage to slip in a lesson in civics and criminology as a byproduct, and Rubenfeld upholds that tradition.
After the first victim is discovered, the author writes, “The position of coroner in New York City was in 1909 a peculiar one; an irregularity in the chain of command. Part medical examiner, part forensic investigator, part prosecutor, the coroner reported directly to the mayor.” It’s that sort of fascinating detail, along with a plot every bit as complicated as a map of New York City’s boroughs, that makes “The Interpretation of Murder” such a tantalizingly twisted mystery.
Using Freud’s 1909 visit to America – and his subsequent comment that all Americans are “savages” – as the jumping-off point for an original thriller, Rubenfeld kicks things into high gear from the start. The same day that Freud and his disciple, Carl Jung, are met at New York Harbor by Dr. Stratham Younger, one of America’s first psychiatrists, the tortured body of a high society matron, Elizabeth Riverford, is found hanging from a chandelier in the Balmoral, an upscale New York City apartment building.
A few days later, another well-to-do young woman, Nora Acton, is similarly assaulted, but manages to escape her would-be killer. But due to hysterical paralysis, Nora cannot remember a thing about the attack on her person. Assigned to solve the case before another young heiress is victimized are Detective Jimmy Littlemore and Dr. Younger, who is treating Nora.
Littlemore goes about solving it the old-fashioned way – with footwork and detective skills – and Younger does his bit to solve the crime by putting his budding science of psychiatry to the test. Assisting Younger in laying bare the secrets of Miss Acton’s psyche is none other than Freud.
As the three men work toward solving the case, readers will get a few more lessons in history (Freud’s relationship with Jung, the building of the Manhattan Bridge) and psychiatric reasoning (Hamlet’s soliloquy is deconstructed).
Both Matthews and Rubenfeld do fine jobs of spinning escapist yarns that will transport readers into settings where danger lurks around every corner and offhanded education (about historical happenings and characters) can be had with the turn of a page.
Dorman T. Shindler is a freelance writer from Missouri.
The Alibi Club
By Francine Matthews
Bantam, 320 pages, $24
The Interpretation of Murder
By Jed Ruberfield
Henry Holt, 384 pages, $26
