“Play of Shadows,” by Barbara Nickless (Thomas & Mercer)
When the body of a Chicago murder victim is found — nearly sliced in half by a sword with a strange symbol drawn on its forehead — who do the police call? If you’re a fan of Colorado Springs mystery author Barbara Nickless, the answer, of course, is Dr. Evan Wilding.
The Chicago cryptologist, a dwarf, is brilliant, urbane and secretly in love with detective Addie Bisset. And he is already ahead of this deadly murder. Only that night, shortly before he was killed, the victim left an ancient Cretan coin on Wilding’s doorstep, along with a note: “Let the game begin.”
And so it does. Addie and Wilding, with the help of Wilding’s assistant, Diana, and his brother, River, discover they’ve been challenged to play out a murderous myth by a man who claims to be the deadly Minotaur. If they don’t solve the Cretan monster’s puzzle, there will be a midnight sacrifice.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be more ritual killings along the way. The Minotaur leaves behind both bodies and symbols, which lead Wilding to not only question old colleagues but to also dig into past crimes and killers. And while he’s doing all that, he wonders if he should declare himself to Addie.
“Play of Shadows” is an artful mystery, heavily researched — although sometimes confusing — and one that combines a contemporary serial killer with a complex of ancient myths and symbols.
“Blood Betrayal,” by Ausma Zehanat Khan (Minotaur Books)
In “Blackwater Falls,” Colorado author Ausma Zehanat Khan introduced Inaya Rahman, a Muslin detective who is tough but sympathetic. Inaya transferred from Chicago to the Denver suburb of Blackwater Falls after fellow officers brutalized her and ripped off her headscarf.
Now, well into her career in Colorado, Inaya finds her worst nightmare has come true. She opens her front door to discover John Broda, the officer who led the attack on her, standing there. He wants Inaya to investigate the Denver murder of a Hispanic man who was shot in the back during a drug raid. The cop charged with the killing is Broda’s son, Kelly. In exchange for her assistance, Broda will give Rahman evidence to free a Chicago black man in a case that Inaya had worked on before she fled Chicago.
Thatap not the only cop killing that Inaya is involved in. A second police officer faces a murder charge after shooting a black man he claimed was aiming a gun at him. The “gun” turned out to be a can of spray paint.
Inaya is a member of a Community Response Team, led by Wagas Seif, a Palestinian, who at first refuses to let Inaya get involved in the Kelly Broda killing. He’s protective of Inaya, in part because in the first book, the two had developed feelings for each other. But any relationship they might have had appears to go south when Seif’s former fiancé shows up, anxious to resume their engagement.
Other member of the team, most of them minorities, are developing their own problems, many to do with race.
In addition to being an absorbing mystery, “Blood Betrayal” delves into the challenges that Inaya faces due to her religion. Although she no longer wears a head scarf, she is deeply religious, and her beliefs challenge her work as well as her relationship with Seif.
“Blood Betrayal” is one of those novels that is not only enjoyable but also teaches you something.
“Chasing Bright Medusas,” by Benjamin Taylor (Viking)
Taylor admits in the prologue to “Chasing Bright Medusas” that Willa Cather has been for him “a lovely, durable shelter. This book arises from a debt of love.” So you can be sure he’s not going to dish on his favorite author. Nevertheless, “Chasing” is a critical if affectionate account of one of the Westap great authors.
At barely 150 pages, “Chasing Bright Medusas” (the title comes from Cather’s 1920 book, “Youth and the Bright Medusa”) is a slim biography with emphasis on Cather’s professional growth and a summary of her writing. Cather, of course, grew up in Red Cloud, Neb., but some of her books are set in Colorado. She had a great sense of the land and how it formed people, and she was a voice of the immigrants who settled the great swaths of the Plains.
The author includes clever little quips of Cather’s. When she didn’t want to schedule an appointment with someone, she said she didn’t have time because she was going to Mexico City tomorrow, although she’d never gone there and never would. And there are quotes from letters that Cather wrote to friends and other writers, which is a sad commentary on the correspondence of today. Itap unlikely that authors now write quite as candidly in emails as their predecessors did, or that that correspondence will be tied up in ribbons and stored away in shoeboxes.
Sandra Dallas of Denver is a freelance writer who reviews books for The Denver Post.
