Making a Scottish/British Crime Series Powerfully New Again: MIDNIGHT AND BLUE, Ian Rankin

A quick count suggests that MIDNIGHT AND BLUE is the 24th novel in the deeply admired Inspector Rebus series from Ian Rankin. Along with similar protagonists, like Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch, John Rebus has reached retirement age. How can a man whose life is framed by his investigative work manage the transition?

Shockingly, it seems Rebus will have to manage it in a dangerous prison, HMP Edinburgh, surrounded by criminals who have good reason to hate and threaten him. "Rebus felt hemmed in, not only by walls but bu the same daily faces too. He had visited the prison many times during his detective years — he recalled being shown the Hanging Shed, now demolished -- but this was different. The various smells were never going to be showered away.  ... Prison, nick, jail, chokey, inside -- many names but only one game: incarceration." 

There's only sparse explanation of how he's landed here with a life sentence, a result of bodily threatening a criminal who minutes later died of a heart attack. Clearly, Rebus's many slippery judgement calls and careless antagonisms of the past must have caught up with him as the courts ground him in their teeth. Protected briefly in solitary confinement, then pressed into the population of his old enemies and, of course, the antagonisms among them, it seems he's only surviving because the death that cost his freedom proved highly advantageous to gang leader Darryl Christie, who's offered to protect him (more or less). 

Of course, Christie is powerful, menacing, and in Rebus's estimation, quite mad. So that protection immediately equals additional danger. Too bad there isn't time to sort it out any further before Rebus's miseries are compounded by a death inside the prison, and fresh expectations from both the investigators and the prison's governor that Rebus will help solve this murder. To do so would quickly mean his death at the hands of the other prisoners, though. Or would it?

It's no spoiler to admit that all the action of this very high-action crime novel takes place in one dangerous week of Rebus's incarceration. Walking with him through the seeming impossibility of crime-solving while balancing threats around him is fascinating and suspenseful, and Rankin provides plenty of aggressive and startling twists along the way.

British cover.

MIDNIGHT AND BLUE will also satisfy readers who want a chance at the better side of human nature despite darkness and violence. Rankin's final acknowledgment shows he knows exactly what he's painstakingly built into this book: "I am grateful to staff and inmates (present and past) who spoke to me and allowed me to tour the facilities. I have taken a few necessary liberties, but I hope I have also managed to show that prisons are places where compassion and hope can be manifested on all sides."

In other words -- you might think you know the author, and the series, but this is a must-read to add to the experience. On my bookshelves, it's hanging around for a second delicious reading over the winter. 

Oh yes, the publisher is Mulholland (aka Little, Brown); I like the British (Scottish) cover design better than the American.

One Traditional Crime Novel, One International Thriller

"Genre" fiction still has to meet the standards of good writing: strong characters, a sense of place, and in a plot that makes you want to open the next chapter. When you reach the last page, there should be some form of satisfaction -- and if there's frustration too, that's got to fit with an expectation that developed while you were getting acquainted with the author's temperament and motives.

But genre fiction —in this case, crime fiction, mysteries, and thrillers — also has to meet more criteria, because readers understand them as "game rules." For example, the mystery can't be solved by a walk-on character saying "Oh, didn't I tell you, I saw my uncle buying that rifle?" As another example, crime fiction doesn't generally allow ghosts into the picture (unless you are reading Stuart Neville; yes, highly recommended but, as we say in New England, it's wicked dark).

These two books are classic genre fiction, but "deeper, stronger, better," because the authors bring a powerful motivation to shape your experience and have the well-honed skills to do it.

First, consider THE HOLLOW TREE by Philip Miller. Don't judge this by the cover, which looks a bit like a desert cactus in color shades speaking of Arizona ... the actual setting is a small gritty town in north England where crimes can linger unsolved for a generation and memories and resentments can reach even further.

With his second crime novel, Edinburgh author Philip Miller comes into his prime. The first sentence of THE HOLLOW TREE offers a perfect example of this book's engrossing pattern of laying out one truth, then pulling it back: "Shona Sanderson was going to a wedding. The day would end in death."

Sandison is an investigative journalist, now saddled with a permanent disability that forces her to maneuver with a supportive cane ("stick" in British) and leaves her always off balance. So does the case she tumbles into, as she witnesses the gory suicide of a wedding guest. Miller presses Shona into overwhelming conflict when what she witnessses threatens to destroy her valued friendship with the bride-to-be. An as a caustic, insightful, and probing person, Shona's got very few close friends. The more she pushed for answers to a set of hidden crimes, the more she risks devastating consequences to the people she treasures—and herself.

Reading THE HOLLOW TREE parallels eating a globe artichoke, leaf by leaf. Your teeth scrape the sweet richness at the bottom edge of each, but you can't reach the aromatic heart of the 'choke until you complete the disrobing. In a steady accretion of toxic loyalties and occult dangers, Shona exposes how a core of evil has infected the community across time and can shatter strong bonds of love. Shona's body can't always do what the circumstances demand. But her insistence on revelation becomes the core of Miller's demonstration that the texture and questioning of crime fiction create an ideal lens for the dobt, anger, and passion of our time.

Though it's also "genre" fiction and even published by the same firm (Soho Press under its Soho Crime imprint), Andromeda Romano-Lax's THE DEEPEST LAKE couldn't be more different. Revolving around an upscale writing retreat in Guatemala on the shores of Lake Atitlán, complete with a charismatic writing teacher known for unpleasant memoirs, the story quickly establishes a mode of threat, danger, and deceit. Alternating points of view in the present tense, although they may reflect different time periods, challenge readers to stay alert and pin the evidence together around the disappearance of Rose's grown daughter Jules. Rose's ex-husband already funded a conventional search for their daughter at the lake, and concluded she was dead. Rose pretty much believes that too, but can't leave the loose threads alone as she mourns and faces her own despair and helplessness.

Experienced thriller readers may see the fierce psychological darkness that Ruth Rendell instituted in British thrillers under her pen name Barbara Vine. These frightening books (best not read at bedtime) exposed the horrors a twisted psyche can impose on others. Because of how Romano-Lax plays out her various points of view, readers know what's going on and where the threats are coming from, long before Rose does — which can be frustrating. But it's also playing fair with the traditions of thrillers, which pin the reader into a form of helplessness like that of the victim or victims in the book. 

Another parallel to this work, set on the American side of the ocean, is the Maine paranormal mystery series offered by John Connolly, where again it's the wickedness of some human hearts that drives the threats and harsh disasters of the fiction. Hat tip to Romano-Lax for probing a fresh setting at a time when Central America is becoming part of a prevailing US nightmare of difference and greed.

Slow Horses, Dark Discoveries: THE SECRET HOURS, Mick Herron (Sept. 2023)

My favorite characters from the Slough House/Slow Horses series are River Cartwright and Catherine Standish. I identify with each of them for a different set of reasons. (No, I am not going to whine about my father or my past here! I do that in memoir pieces, here.) And I can't stand Roddy Ho, with his endless primping and overweening self-esteem.

But the ones that obsess me are Jackson Lamb, Molly Doran, and Diana Taverner. Why? Because I'd love to have learned from each of them, and I wish I were as brave or as smart, and I know that I'm not. As a small child, when I began to realize that my parents kept secrets from me, I hoped with a deep unholy thrill that one of them was my identity as a Genius. By ninth grade, I knew that wasn't on the map. In the Slow Horses/Slough House series, though, each of these three has special incisive mind and, as a result, a degree of power that I'd now hate to have in my hands. The books let me peek into the inner selves of these characters, though, and there's a marvelous illicit thrill to that past-the-curtain view.

Hence the absorbing, impelling fascination of Mick Herron's 2023 offering, THE SECRET HOURS. Breaking the tradition of the reader knowing the sneaky secrets, this London/Berlin espionage novel offers a kaleidoscope of work names, job positions ("First Desk" at MI5), and hidden motivations as if the story unfolded in a very foggy neighborhood where any sighting of a spy on the sidewalk ahead could actually be the local bartender lost outside his terrain—and vice versa. 

Because the narrative involves so many hidden identities—some for the sake of anonymity among espionage professionals, some for political manipulation, some due to multiple identities either on British soil and foreign, or while publicly appearing "kind and wise" and secretly shown as manipulative and wicked— THE SECRET HOURS offers a shadow dance at first. Naive young "spooks" experience real life; political hostages slowly notice their bondage. Series readers will get the most from this novel, as they'll be alert for signs of which First Desk is hiding in the shadows, who could be a traitor, and small character traits long since revealed among the so-called slow horses. As one mask after another is lifted, the masquerade turns deadly. Yet, of course, this is Mick Herron writing, so deadly is also simultaneously funny and heartbreaking.

There are also delicious asides into evocative description, slipping in mention of the book's title phrase: "Even when apparently peaceful the [MI5/MI6] hub is alert for disturbance, whether in the world at large, on the streets of the safeguarded cities, or at the next work station along, because—as the whispered mantra has it—You never know. You never know when treachery might strike, or from what quarter. This is true whatever the time, but especially true after dark, since how we act in the light of  day is largely for other people's benefit, but what we do in the secret hours reveals who we really are."

Or the revelations of character in the face of rude awakening: "There was a big rip down the centre of everything now. It wasn't fair, she absurdly thought; wasn't fair that people should expose the violent terrors history held, and expect you to know how to respond." 

In the deliciously balanced double time spans of the book, the same character in another era will reflect: "The events she is recalling took place years ago, decades ago, but there is no statue of limitations on remembered damage, if that is what this is. And how can it be anything else? Happiness takes on a different shade in the light of  its consequences."

Don't let the "literary" phrasings mislead you -- this is also a book of fistfights, kidnapping, death threats, and some murder-for-politics. The difference is, in Mick Herron's hands, the questions asked by the ordinary people doing the footwork really matter. And ache. (And sometimes make you snort with an unexpected laugh.)

I often tell people to plunge into a book without worrying about whether they've read earlier work in a series. And you can do that with THE SECRET HOURS, of course. But if you do, then dip into some of the earlier Mick Herron books and come back to this for a second read. Then you, too, will double your time periods of engagement, and perhaps see, and feel, the movement of the world more clearly.

Release date from Soho Crime, an imprint of Soho Press: Sept. 12, 2023.

 

Wait, What Century Are We In? Radical New Fiction from Sujata Massey, Mick Herron, Chris McKinney

Book recommendations! My recent reading has been all over the timeline and globe, thanks to three summer releases from the Soho Crime imprint of Soho Press. NOTE the release dates, please, for ordering and pre-ordering. I'm not exaggerating when I say that each of these books has given me insight into the mastery of important stories, as well as intrigue and adventure.

1920s India, Courtrooms and Crime (JULY Release)

The 1920s gave women freedom of dress, dance, and hair in the United States, as well as the vote -- but social change moved differently in India then, and Perveen Mistry, British-trained daughter in a Bombay law firm, can't find her footing. She should be recognized as a solicitor. But when she rashly tries to stand up before a judge on behalf of another family's injured servant, her credential aren't good enough: "I completed the bachelor of civil law education at Oxford University. Following this, I clerked at Freshfields which granted me the rank of solicitor." The judge traps her with an inquiry into her grades on the law exams, which of course she hasn't taken. "Female law students were not permitted ..." A very embarrassing move by the judge banishes Perveen from the courtroom, threatens the liberty of the woman she'd tried to rescue, and sweeps her career faux pas onto the gossip mill.

Death, poisonings, and legal manipulations with the upper-class that used to hire that now-injured servant as a baby nurse escalate the crises around her. Despite its supposedly sedate setting, THE MISTRESS OF BHATIA HOUSE turns into a page-turner of betrayal, dishonesty, and by necessity, bravery, as Perveen risks her most important relationship—with her powerful father—for the sake of her surging principles. 

Followers of the series (this is the fourth of Massey's 1920s India mysteries) will get little more of the romance between Perveen and the British man who's won her heart in earlier books. But oh, what an education in customs, cruelty, and courage!

Cold War Refresher for Awkward Spies (SEPTEMBER Release)

The "Slow Horses" Apple TV series has brought fresh attention to Mick Herron's addictive espionage series set "today" (more or less) in London. Although THE SECRET HOURS is billed as a stand-alone, it's slowly revealed to be a Cold War back story to some of the most compelling characters of the book series. Discovering which of the ardent young people from 1994 Berlin match the partners in the current investigation of MI5 is half the fun. When they start to key into the Slough House itself, though, forget putting the book down. As the unnamed "First Desk" at MI5 refects, "You never know. You never know when treachery might strike, or from what quarter. ... What we do in the secret hours reveals who we really are." Soon various forms of skullduggery, including betrayal and murder, rack up: "Killings happen It is not a matter of whether this is true or not; it is more a matter of whether it is justifiable." 

Herron's crime novels feature sharp threads of wry humor, and every triumph gained by his spooks and "joes" come with a huge serving of regret. THE SECRET HOURS gains double poignancy if you've been reading the earlier titles (I actually re-read them, almost annually). But if you're a novice, plunge in anyway. Odds are you'll then email the local librarian for earlier books in the series, and work your way back to this 2023 release with delight and escalating appreciation.

What Could Go Wrong With Artificial Intelligence That Hates You? (JULY Release)

My grown sons speak Asian languages—it's unusual for Vermonters, granted, and they've been given quite a few side-eyes in Asia for the unexpected sounds coming from their mouths. I think that enhances the fascination I find in Chris McKinney's "Water City" series, with its multiple scenes of Japan and more. McKinney, despite the sound of his surname, is native-born Hawai'ian and his ocean savvy formed the fabric for the first book in the future-utopia neo-noir of Midnight, Water City. With EVENTIDE, WATER CITY,  the threads of manipulation that might have been excused on the part of world-saving science in the first book start to bite ... and draw blood.

McKinney's protagonist, whose name we still don't have, served as risk-it-all detective in the first book. But now he's retired, letting his wife do the career climbing, and instead he tackles the daunting task of teaching and then keeping up with his daughter Ascalon—who, like her father, is a synesthete, someone whose perceptions arrive in the form of colors, sounds, even messages that don't mirror everyday reality. 

The idyllic life of water exploration with Ascalon ruptures under the intrusion of the potent and often cruel (needlessly? or correctly?) Ascalon Lee. By the time this strange villain-rescuer is captive, the roles of father, detective, bounty hunter, and world-saving hero have whirled into enormous confusion for McKinney's narrator: "She's got her gun raised to my belly. This should be easy. So easy. How many times have I pulled a trigger before? Then a single thought floods my mind. Anger. Rage. It's this emotion that makes it possible for me to make everything all about me. The thought melts and oozes into a deep self-loathing." There, bet you didn't see that coming — but if you savor well-written noir, you should have guessed. 

In this year of ChatGPT and other mixed monsters, the role of artificial intelligence in McKinney's series can't avoid a mix of promise and menace. Keep your eye on both Ascalon and Ascalon Lee, to gather hints of where this frankly terrifying series is headed for its finale, as the last of the trilogy, Sunset, Water City, will release in December.

I'd like to send all three of the books to my Congressional delegation. If only I thought they'd read them. Well, at least we the voters can be forewarned.

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.