FICTION: COMIC THRILLER
Something for Nothing by David Anthony (Algonquin)
Halfway through David Anthony’s refreshing first novel, “Something for Nothing,” Martin Anderson is buzzing along the California coast in a plane full of heroin from Mexico, and he’s about to cry. The misty-eyed drug mule was left out of negotiations by his partner, and now it’s killing him. “Just wait here, Martin. Eventually you’ll belong, but not right now,” mocks a voice inside him.
Martin is a sensitive American dreamer gone bad. A small-aircraft dealer and family man, he lives in an affluent Oakland suburb thirsting for fuel during the Arab oil embargo of the mid-1970s. While Anthony peppers the narrative with pop references that place it firmly in the past, his protagonist’s problems are all too familiar in our energy-conscious, financially challenged times. In an effort to dull an acute case of suburban malaise, Martin has filled the gap between his funds and his aspirations with toys he can’t afford, such as a boat and a racehorse. But the oil embargo is terrible for business, so he falls into smuggling as a way to climb out of debt. Although that plan starts out fine, before long there’s a pesky cop poking around. And a double murder.
Martin is sympathetic and complex — and full of contradictions. His smuggling is not so much an egotistical move toward bad-boy glam as a desperate attempt to escape mounting bills. “Something for Nothing” is a character-driven comic thriller, and readers will hammer along as much to find out what happens next as to see Martin absorb life’s punches. Because he’s so much fun to watch, here’s hoping Anthony brings him back for a second round. John Wilwol, Washington Post Writers Group
FICTION: HUNT FOR A KILLER
The Stranger You Seek by Amanda Kyle Williams (Bantam)
At the start of “The Stranger You Seek,” readers are in the head of a serial killer ready to strike. It’s a short passage made all the more powerful by the information it conveys: The killer plans these crimes meticulously, and can gain access to just about anyone.
By the time ex-FBI profiler Keye Street arrives at the crime scene, readers have learned two more things: The killer is extraordinarily sadistic and spends a good deal of time writing a knife-play-fetish blog, in which past and present crimes are recounted.
And we’re off on a creepy, suspenseful, breathtaking ride as Street, now running a PI business and tracking bail jumpers on the side, assists the Atlanta police in finding the killer dubbed “Wishbone” by the media before the death toll rises, and it’s not long before the killer starts taunting and threatening Street herself.
Street is a unique and worthy addition to the rich tradition of damaged and tough private detectives: She’s an adopted Chinese- American with typically Southern parents; is dealing with a failed marriage and an ex-husband who still has a hold on her; and is a recovering alcoholic — the cause of her dismissal from the FBI.
Williams dispatches each of the crime- scene descriptions with a flair for the graphic and grisly. “The Stranger You Seek” is not a book for the squeamish, and the fetish-blog entries in particular may include triggers for survivors of sexual assaults. There’s a romantic subplot that doesn’t quite have the right buildup for its ultimate payoff, and the mystery’s solution might be a bit of a letdown for eagle-eyed readers, but these are slight criticisms for what is otherwise a fantastic mystery-thriller debut in what will assuredly be a successful series. Michelle Wiener, Associated Press
FICTION: SAVORY MYSTERY
Black Diamond by Martin Walker (Knopf)
People kill for lots of reasons — love and money especially. For truffles, not so much.
In southwestern France, the bucolic domain of author Martin Walker’s police chief and gourmand Bruno Courreges, truffles are so beloved and so valuable that crime might well attend their sale as it might a jewelry show. Still, after vandals attack a Vietnamese food market and Chinese restaurants in the region go up in flames, Bruno suspects that something more sinister is behind the violence.
The third Chief Bruno mystery, “Black Diamond” is as laid-back as its central figure. The military veteran turned constable enjoys a walk in the woods with his truffle- hunting basset hound, Gigi, as much as the effort that goes into creating a casserole. Discerning the motives behind crimes is only slightly more vexing for Bruno than contemplating a life with his British lover, Pamela, or perhaps with an old French flame, Isabelle.
The town of St. Denis has its own identity problems. The closing of a sawmill puts people out of work and raises political and social tensions among its 1,500 or so residents. An upcoming mayoral election pitting the so-called Greens against other political parties could cost Bruno his job, depending on who ends up running things. At times tradition itself seems under siege in St. Denis.
It’s enough to make one want to crawl into bed with a bowl of Tourain, the classic soup of the region. Food is to Bruno as orchids are to fellow literary detective Nero Wolfe. In Walker’s hands, “Black Diamond” becomes a savory mystery, a light concoction with tantalizing ingredients. Douglass K. Daniel, Associated Press
