Red Bones, by Ann Cleeves, $24.99
The author, who began her writing career more than 20 years ago with a series of modest bird-watching mysteries, has really hit her stride with this award-winning series set on the remote Shetland Islands and featuring police detective Jimmy Perez, the descendant of a shipwrecked sailor from the Spanish Armada.
Quiet, intuitive and compassionate, Perez is thrust into another murder case when his young colleague, Sandy Wilson, discovers his own grandmother dead on her land, recently the site of an archaeological dig.
At first the death is written off as a hunting accident, but as Perez and Wilson dig deeper and a young female archaeologist dies in an apparent suicide, they get suspicious. The troubled history of two rival families must be explored, as well as what was going on at the dig.
Once again the setting, this time the islands in early spring, is an effective backdrop to the story, and the relationships among the characters, including between Jimmy and Sandy and Jimmy and his sweetheart, Fran, are sensitively explored. Our only objection to this lovely series is that the author has promised us only one more to complete the quartet she has always planned it to be.
Tears of Pearl, by Tasha Alexander, $24.99. Lady Emily, who was widowed before she even began to know her wanderlust husband, has remarried, to Colin Hargreaves, a diplomat whose duties include discreetly investigating untoward incidents for queen and country.
The two are honeymooning in Constantinople, Emily delirious with joy, not just over their marriage but also because Colin has obtained permission for her to assist in his investigations in a more or less official capacity.
As it happens, a harem girl is found murdered soon after they arrive, and because Colin cannot enter that forbidden (to men) territory, Emily is deputized to interview the women within the harem walls.
Emily is astonished to find that it is nowhere as restrictive a place as she had expected; indeed, by late Victorian standards, the women are permitted a good deal of freedom and even power. The enjoyable story that develops is infused with wit and charm, with just the right amounts of danger, romance and detection blended in.
The Brutal Telling, by Louise Penny, $24.99. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is once again called to the storybook village of Three Pines in southern Quebec, where an unidentified body has been found on the floor of the popular bistro owned by a gay couple, Gabriel and Olivier.
Nobody admits to knowing the reclusive stranger, but Gamache — perhaps the kindliest police detective in the literature — and his team set up headquarters in the village and explore all leads until, gradually, a picture forms of the dead man.
Then his cabin is discovered deep in the woods, filled with fabulous treasures including valuable first editions, a piece from the legendary Amber Room, china and tableware once owned by royalty, and so forth. Also discovered is a pair of exquisitely carved pieces of red cedar, telling a dreadful story — a story that turns out to be a key to the mystery.
All leads point to Olivier, about whom new information comes to light that shocks both Gamache and his crew, who have been the willing recipients of his generous hospitality over the years.
It’s Penny’s most ambitious novel to date, adding much to our knowledge of the continuing characters and creating a framework of myth that lends structure to the tale. The ending is so inconclusive, however, that one wonders whether it’s simply a cliffhanger leading to the next book. Either way, it’s not completely satisfying, despite the eloquent prose and amazingly complex characters.
Sheer Folly, by Carola Dunn, $24.99. Here we have a deliciously old-fashioned English houseparty murder, set in the 1920s and featuring Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher, the lively and discreetly liberated daughter of a viscount and wife of a policeman who’s also an accomplished journalist.
Daisy and her collaborator are working on a book on garden follies and arrange to spend time at a stately home that boasts a renowned and elaborate grotto. When the most odious of an odd assortment of guests gets killed, nobody mourns his passing, but the murderer must still be found.
So when Daisy’s Scotland Yard husband Alec arrives, he’s pressed into the service by the local constabulary. And he needs Daisy’s help in sorting out the strange dynamics.
Tom and Enid Schantz are freelancers who write regularly about new mysteries.
