Short And Long Crime Reads

This is a gem of a mystery, but heads up that it seems to only be available in audiobook in the U.S. However, that is the format I would highly recommend it in.

It starts with a bear and a crow having a discussion/argument that ends with the bear sending the crow to a man, Billy. We then meet Billy as he thinks he’s waking from a terrible night of falling off the wagon because it is the only thing that would explain his strange state and his inability to remember the previous night. But in fact the crow is his spirit guide because Billy has been murdered. I know!

Billy has to figure out why he’s stuck from moving on and who murdered him. Enter his cousin Dale who makes Billy figure out a way to talk to him through his Bluetooth, and his aunt Tina who sees and talks to spirits. We get taken into life on an unnamed reservation where many of the threats to Native Americans can be behind Billy’s death including an oil company and a gang. Will Billy–with help from the crow, his cousin, and aunt–be able to figure out who murdered him and more importantly find the forgiveness needed to pass on?

The Ghost Detective is a quick read packed with humor and heart that reminds readers of the voices missing in the crime genre. It also opens the door for it to become a series and yes, please. (TW alcoholism/ brief child abuse/ mentions song about rape, no detail/ fat shaming/ past child cancer deaths, not graphic)

For those who are unaware of Tana French, she has a great police procedural series–each book can be read as a standalone novel–following detectives on the Dublin Murder Squad. She also has a standalone suspense murder mystery, The Witch Elm, and now The Searcher, a second standalone, which is a slow burn, possible missing persons mystery.

If you like procedurals, character driven stories, and want a faster pace, you want her Dublin Murder Squad books. If you want to sink deep into a life and have a murder mystery filled with suspense, you want The Witch Elm. If you want to be plunged into a life in a tiny town that is a slow burn possible missing person case, you want The Searcher. I love all her books and feel like a main theme is they should have a trigger warning for men. And by that I mean, if you think about the male leads, they are presented as “nice guys” but they’re kind of terrible.

Case in point: in The Searcher we meet Cal Hooper, a retired American detective, who is divorced and a father to an adult woman. He has a not-great relationship with his ex and his daughter, and he retired pretty young from the police force. He wants to have a better relationship with his wife and is certainly trying to have a good relationship with his daughter, so naturally he moves alone to a remote village in rural Ireland to work on those things while they are in the U.S. You see what I mean? And why did he retire early you wonder? Because he was coming to understand the Black Lives Matter movement and it was too difficult for him to wade through all of it to make any kind of decision, so retiring early seemed the best plan. You see!

Welcome to the life we’re plunged into. And by that I mean this was one of the few books this year that truly transported me out of the hellscape we are in and took me somewhere else. Cal may have moved away from all his problems but as he will soon discover, life is hard no matter where you go, and you’re going to have to make tough decisions, buddy! His comes in the form of a young teen named Trey who he keeps catching lurking around his property as he tries to fix the cottage. Trey is like a stray that will not leave and will not give up and forces Cal to do something about his inability to make hard decisions because Trey is convinced their brother did not pack up and leave, and Cal, being a detective and all, has to be able to help.

Problem is, small towns aren’t real big on outsiders to start with let alone ones that show up and start poking their nose into a mystery they claim isn’t a mystery… If you like slow unraveling mysteries, character studies, excellent writing, and want to live in rural Ireland while getting to know the locals (and all their gossip and secrets) this one is for you. I find myself once again longing for the next Tana French–always my feeling as I turn the last page of one of her crime books. (TW brief mention suicide, detail/ domestic violence discussed, not graphic or on page/ animal deaths, cruelty, hunting/ mentions fake rape rumor, no detail/ child abuse off page, results detailed)