In a Lonely Place

I have been reading some novels by classic writers and picked up this one by Dorothy B. Hughes.  She wrote 14 crime and detective novels and was well known for this title which was one of the first to portray a serial killer from the killer's POV. There was also a movie made based on this book starring Humphrey Bogart. It's 1940's Los Angeles and Dix Steele, a former fighter pilot is struggling to find his place in society. Hughes recognized that, when men returned from the war, women's expectations were altered as many of them had gone from being consigned to a purely domestic life to becoming an essential part of the workforce.  I love this description from the New York Review of Books:

"A classic California noir with a feminist twist, this prescient 1947 novel exposed misogyny in post-World War II American society, making it far ahead of its time.
Los Angeles in the late 1940s is a city of promise and prosperity, but not for former fighter pilot Dix Steele. To his mind nothing has come close to matching "that feeling of power and exhilaration and freedom that came with loneness in the sky." He prowls the foggy city night--­bus stops and stretches of darkened beaches and movie houses just emptying out--seeking solitary young women. His funds are running out and his frustrations are growing. Where is the good life he was promised? Why does he always get a raw deal? Then he hooks up with his old Air Corps buddy Brub, now working for the LAPD, who just happens to be on the trail of the strangler who's been terrorizing the women of the city for months...
Written with controlled elegance, Dorothy B. Hughes's tense novel is at once an early indictment of a truly toxic masculinity and a twisty page-turner with a surprisingly feminist resolution. A classic of golden age noir..."

The Right Sort of Man

In spite of the title, which suggests a romance novel, this is a first-class historical mystery by Allison Montclair. Set in 1946 London, this is her debut novel featuring an intrepid pair of women, Iris Sparks and Gwendolyn Bainbridge, and I will seek out subsequent books in the series. Booklist offers this summary review:

"First Comes Love, Then Comes Murder. Now there's an unintended slogan that seems made to order for The Right Sort Marriage Bureau, a new enterprise in the heart of London's Mayfair in the years after WWII. Proprietors: the worldly Miss Iris Sparks, Cambridge-educated, with a hush-hush background in the secret service, and the sheltered Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, at the mercy of her late husband's wealthy family. The business is off to a successful start but becomes seriously compromised when a client is murdered, and the prime suspect is the very man with whom they matched her. The police see it as an open-and-shut case, but Iris and Gwen take it upon themselves to clear his name and salvage their reputation using the combined, somewhat odd assortment of contacts, talents, and survival skills acquired on their individual life journeys. Fans of M. C. Beaton will relish the wit, and followers of Susan Elia MacNeal and Jacqueline Winspear will enjoy the depth and the period detail. Readers will want to get on the reserve list for the next Iris and Gwen adventure."

Publishers Weekly also offers this recommendation: "Set in 1946 London, Montclair’s stellar debut and series launch introduces an unlikely pair of detectives. Gwen Bainbridge, whose husband died during WWII, lives with her late husband’s parents, who managed to get legal custody of her six-year-old son, Ronnie. Gwen and Iris Sparks, a former operative for British intelligence, run the Right Sort Marriage Bureau. Their innocuous business becomes less so after client Tillie La Salle is stabbed to death shortly after her particulars were provided to Dickie Trower, a shy accountant. Dickie is charged with Tillie’s murder, his purported motive anger over the cancellation of their first date. Convinced that the wrong person is behind bars and facing intensely negative press, Gwen and Iris investigate Tillie’s death. They soon find plausible alternative motives, including fallout from the dead woman’s involvement in the black market and a former beau’s jealousy. Both leads are complex, well-developed characters, whose penchant for humorous byplay never comes at the expense of the plot, which resolves itself in a clever fair play reveal. Fans of Maisie Dobbs and Bess Crawford will be delighted."

The Little Sparrow Murders

I was looking forward to reading this book by Seishi Yokomizo  (1902-1981) who was one of Japan's most popular historical mystery writers, often compared to other classic writers in the genre such as Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr. He was best known for his series featururing private detective Kosuke Kindaichi (77books!), a rumpled, self-effacing man who occasionally helps the local police with particularly vexing crimes. Several of his books have been translated into English.  Here is the plot summary from the publisher's website:

"An old friend of Kosuke Kindaichi's invites the scruffy detective to visit the remote mountain village of Onikobe in order to look into a twenty-year-old murder case. But no sooner has Kindaichi arrived than a new series of murders strikes the village - several bodies are discovered staged in bizarre poses, and it soon becomes clear that the victims are being killed using methods that match the lyrics of an old local children's song... The legendary sleuth investigates, but soon realises that he must unravel the dark and tangled history of the village, as well as that of its rival families, to get to the truth."

In spite of a wonderful map of the village setting and a list of all the characters involved, I had a really hard time following the relationships that are key to the story. The plot line unwinds very slowly and I was surprised at the outcome, never imagining who the killer was. Nevertheless, his mysteries have received positive reviews in the English press, including the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, the Guardian, and the Economist.

A Moment on the Edge

This is an anthology of short stories compiled by Elizabeth George, providing a reading journey through crime fiction written by British and American women authors over the past century. Here is Booklist's summary and glowing conclusion: "Well known for her Inspector Lynley series, George here collects short mysteries by women, bracketing the 26 entries with two tales about the death of abusive husbands, written more than 80 years apart. Between them springs an entertaining assortment of locked-room murders, theatrical whodunits, white-collar-crime and detective stories, and psychological puzzlers, each headed by revealing author notes. Agatha Christie, praised by George in the volume's enlightening introduction, isn't represented, but her contemporaries in the Golden Age of Mystery in Great Britain are: Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, and Margery Allingham. Dorothy Davis, Charlotte Armstrong, Minette Walters, and Ruth Rendell are here as well, and sleuths Sharon McCone, Jemima Shore, and V. I. Warshawski, each one now a star of her own long-running detective series, make appearances. Here, too, are writers not associated primarily with the genre, including Joyce Carol Oates and Nadine Gordimer, whose tragic tale about the consequences of an interracial affair in South Africa is both mystery and political fiction. From start to finish, a first-rate anthology." 

Library Journal opens their review with: "In her lively, informative introduction to this collection of 26 stories, mystery author George... ably defends the oft-maligned genre of crime fiction...the chronological arrangement gives the reader a feel for the evolution of crime fiction over the past century." and closes with "George's popularity will ensure fan interest and perhaps introduce readers to some unfamiliar women writers." 

What I most enjoyed were the short biographies of the women writers that George provided preceding each story. I found several of the stories more creepy (psychologically) than mysterious.

The Seventh Floor

The title of this book by David McCloskey refers to the executive offices of the CIA's Langley facility.  From the book jacket: "Six CIA officers. Dear friends and cherished enemies. For a quarter century they have stolen other people's secrets. Now they must steal each other's. A Russian arrives in Singapore with a secret to sell. When the Russian is killed and Sam Joseph, the CIA officer dispatched for the meet, goes missing, operational chief Artemis Procter is made a scapegoat for the disaster and run out of the service. Months later, Sam appears at Procter's doorstep with an explosive secret: there is a Russian mole burrowed deep within the highest ranks of the CIA. As Procter and Sam investigate, they arrive at a shortlist of suspects made up of both Procter's closest friends and fiercest enemies. The hunt requires Procter to dredge up her checkered past in the service of the CIA, placing the pair in the sights of a savvy Russian spymaster who will protect Moscow's mole in Langley at all costs."

Really good pacing, complex main character--Artemis Proctor, and written by a former CIA analyst who "layers the novel with the inside details of tradecraft that only a writer of his background could provide" (Publishers Weekly). PW provided a very lukewarm review; they like the 2 previous novels better, Moscow X and Damascus Station. Enjoyable read if you like  espionage thrillers, and I do.

The White Lady

I have read several of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series, but this is a stand-alone novel, also historically set in the WWI and WWII eras.  The protagonist is Elinor White who was just 12 years old when the Germans invaded her home country of Belgium. Yet she and her 15-year-old sister Cecily were recruited by the mysterious Isabelle to watch and report on German train and troop movements. Eventually they were trained to defend themselves, including the use of knives, guns, and sharpened pencils--although Cecily demurred from firearms training. Assigned a more dangerous mission--to move explosives onto a train track--things went horribly awry when they encountered two German soldiers and Elinor killed them to prevent Cecily being raped. The girls and their mother were smuggled out of Belgium to their mother's former home in England. Elinor was again recruited during WWII to work behind enemy lines. Today, in 1947, she lives a quiet, if hyper-vigilant, life in a "grace and favour" house outside the rural Kent village of Shacklehurst. Normally reclusive, Elinor comes to know the nearby farm worker's family on her daily walks--Rose, Jim and their toddler daughter Susie. Horrible memories from her war work are re-activated by Susie and Elinor's protective instincts kick into high gear when Jim's brothers--London gangsters--beat Jim and threaten Rose and Susie. Jim and Rose tried to escape his family's criminal empire by moving to the country, but they've been found and threatened with harm if Jim does not return to help them with a big job. Elinor is determined to see that does not happen and she brings to bear all of her cunning, wartime contacts, and lethal skills to keep the little family safe.

Excellently written, with chapters switching back in time to describe Elinor's work in the two wars, the reader will feel Elinor's struggles and triumphs. The various time periods are well-captured and characters are very believable. Library Journal recommends with this conclusion: the author "skillfully juggles three timelines in a riveting stand-alone about a woman whose wartime experiences overshadow her post-war retirement." Whereas, Booklist focuses on the protagonist in their praise: "The real strength of the novel,... lies in the poignant and beautifully written backstory of Elinor's childhood in war-torn Belgium and her personal losses in a devastated London. Winspear is an absolute master of the character-driven thriller, and although fans will wish for more of Elinor, they will reluctantly agree that she has earned some peace." Publishers Weekly calls this a "smart, nuanced mystery" and agrees that "The chapters illuminating Elinor’s dramatic backstory add vulnerability to her characterization, enriching the suspenseful main narrative."  Kirkus Reviews offers their  assessment: a "tense history-based thriller filled with anguish and suspense... [a] "poignant story of courage, misogyny, and misused power..."

Land of Shadows

This is another first read for a previously unknown author, Rachel Howzell Hall, but I will definitely look for subsequent books; this is the first of a series featuring Black female detective Elouise Norton, known as Lou to her colleagues in the south L.A. homicide squad. There are 3 further installments featuring this character as well as several other thrillers with different protagonists in Howzell Hall's body of work, many of which have received notable mystery prize nominations.

Library Journal says this about the book: "Lou Norton's life changed irrevocably the day her older sister went missing from their Los Angeles ghetto neighborhood. Decades have passed, but Norton, now a homicide detective with the LAPD, is still haunted by and fixated on the unsolved crime. When Lou is called to her old neighborhood to investigate the death of a young girl, she becomes convinced that the crime was committed by the same person who took her sister so long ago... Hall's ... promising series debut introduces a black, female lead in the male-dominated world of the LAPD. The author has fun playing with stereotypes and has developed a strong and likable protagonist. The story shines during Lou's flashbacks to her childhood, which are filled with heart-wrenching memories that make the wisecracking detective more accessible." 

Publishers Weekly praises, "A racially explosive Los Angeles provides the backdrop for this exceptional crime novel from Hall (A Quiet Storm). Elouise "Lou" Norton, an LAPD homicide detective known on the street as "Lockjaw," has solved 90% of the cases she's led. She's a smart, sassy black woman, "sweet as apple pie... laced with arsenic and rusty razor blades," bedeviled by the 25-year-old disappearance of her sister, Tori, and torn asunder emotionally by her straying husband, Greg. Lou is also saddled with a brash newbie partner, Colin Taggert, in a case involving a murdered Jane Doe that Lou suspects is tied to her sister's fate. Dead-on dialogue and atmospheric details help propel a tale full of tormenting moral issues. If the bad grow so close to the good, how do the cops weed them out? And how do we right all these wrongs? Lou, a brave lady in a brave book, does the best she can."

Booklist describes the protagonist this way: "Lou is a good cop and fun to watch great instincts, a no-nonsense interviewing style, and uncompromising in her efforts to catch the bad guy. She's a well-rounded character who can keep her sense of humor even when her work hits painfully close to home. As she tells her partner, I'm sassy, but not Florence-the-Jeffersons'-maid sassy. ...here she moves easily into the suspense genre where hopefully she... will stay for a long time to come."

Kirkus concludes their brief review, "This first procedural from Hall (A Quiet Storm, 2002, etc.) combines a conflicted, gutsy heroine and a complex, many-layered mystery." 

Two Times Murder: A Quiet Teacher Mystery

Never read anything by Adam Oyebanji, but who can resist a book where the author description on the back cover says, "was born in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire. He recently took the big step of moving east to Edinburgh by way of Birmingham, London, Lagos, Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York: a necessary detour, because the traffic otherwise is really, really bad. A graduate of Birmingham University and Harvard Law School, Adam works in the field of counter-terrorist financing, helping banks choke off the money supply to rogue states, narcotics empires, and human trafficking networks."

Moreover, the cover description of the protagonist is this, "Greg Abimbola is many things. He's Black, British and fluent in Russian. He's a snappy dresser, a reasonable teacher, and an unenthusiastic sports fan. But most of all, he's exceptional at keeping secrets. Like, who he really is, and the things he's done." Abimbola is a Russian--and occasionally French--language teacher at a private boys' school in Pittsburgh. He has been relocated there under the Witness Protection Program, but he has recently been found by a Russian agent and who knows where that will lead--probably to hell, he figures, given his background. This is the 2nd book in his "A Quiet Teacher" series and previously he defended an assistant janitor at the school in a murder case by finding the actual culprit. She is a computer whiz and forever in his debt, which is good, because he's a total Luddite when it comes to anything technical. When the police come calling to ask for his assistance in identifying a murdered man pulled out of the river, he is reluctant as he may actually know too much about the victim. But his discovery by Russian agents and then a seemingly unrelated 2nd murder pull him inexorably into the investigations.

Publishers Weekly offers these observations: "Oyebanji...serves up a fun if far-fetched second thriller featuring spy--turned... teacher Greg Abimbola. ...Greg remains a unique and appealing protagonist--a Black Russian with a keen eye for detail and conflicted feelings about his homosexuality--and Oyebanji utilizes him well, especially when Greg explains his deductions like a 21st-century Miss Marple. The plot's locked-room mystery and espionage thriller elements make uneasy bedfellows, however..."

Kirkus is more unreservedly praiseworthy: "as in Abimbola’s first foray into detection proved in A Quiet Teacher (2022), his code of honor makes it impossible for him turn his back on those who need him. Oyebanji makes the unimaginable not only credible but compelling by exposing Abimbola’s rich inner life and setting it against the struggles of those who rely on him for help, most of whom can’t get out of their own way, but nevertheless command readers’ sympathy for their challenges. Oyebanji’s puzzles are well-crafted and his solutions ingenious, leaving readers with both a sense of satisfaction and an appetite for more. Not to be missed."

Booklist says, "It's a pleasure to watch the deductive razzmatazz, but readers can't forget that dying can hurt: amidst the drama is a solemn moment of discovery where we get to see the heart's behavior during the fall, impact, and death. The first novel of the series was presented, and received, as a mix of John le Carré and Agatha Christie, and now Oyebanji adds some Arthur Conan Doyle into the mix."