What crime fiction writers, on the top of their form can do, are introduce us to a world we weren’t familiar with, then making us invest in the heroine or hero asked to unravel the mystery. Here are three new examples of how this happens! From the comic book world, to a failed sophomore-book novelist, and a sauna saleswoman.
Alter Ego by Alex Segura
Author of Secret Identity, Segura copped the NPR Mystery of the Year and LA Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller for that novel, set in the 1970’s world of women comic book writers, such as his fictitious Carmen Valdez. Segura has also written a Star Wars Poe Dameron book, and Spider-Verse adventures. So it’s good to have him back with Alter Ego, book two of a projected trilogy that began with Secret Identity. This time, our lead protagonist is Annie Bustamante, who started out as a comic book artist and author, but transitioned to Hollywood and became a filmmaker/director, and is a single mother. We get her history in vignettes that skip over a timeline of Annie as a kid in 70’s up to today; and the connection to Secret Identity is how back then, Annie’s favorite comic book was The Legendary Lynx of Triumph Comics, written by Carmen Valdez, with whom she shared a Cuban lineage. The Lynx went out of print, and rights were never available… until now!
But making the offer is Bert Carlyle, present-day CEO of Triumph Comics. And back in Secret Identity, Bert’s father ran Triumph with shady connections that Carmen had uncovered; connections which ended up costing the lives of those close to Carmen. So the question is raised of whether Annie is entering into a deal with a second gen’ ‘devil’; and whether history will repeat itself, with Annie and her daughter Margot, placed in danger. As with Secret Identity, Segura has pages of comic book artistry interspersed with reams of text, and they succeed in taking us deeper into the world of comic book writing. The novel also works in reminding us of how much money is now involved in this industry, of how many want to crash the party, and how many do so without a genuine love for the comics, but are merely after the money. A very worthy sequel!
I Might Be In Trouble by Daniel Aleman
A few years ago, David Alvarez would have seemed to have it all. First novel with a six-figure deal, a career on the rise, and a loving boyfriend named Jeremy. But he quickly finds out how yesterday’s darling can be today’s ‘first neglected’ and shunned when his second book flops. The option on his third seems a remote possibility, so his agent Stacey suggests he write something very different from the family saga with which he made his name, The Millers. But David is honest enough to admit that inspiration isn’t striking when the first book was written itself and was loosely based on his own family. Now seeking that new idea to pitch to his publisher, and redemption of any kind, David succumbs to Grindr, and finds a sexy stranger who booked himself a room at the Plaza, in New York. Is this Prince Charming the quick fix he needed?
The entertaining premise for this novel rears up when David wakes up the next morning at his apartment with a corpse lying beside him. It would seem Prince Charming has overdosed or had some kind of heart attack. Panicking, the first person that David calls is his agent, and Stacey has a different set of values and suggestions on what to do. With both of them fearing the public fallout from this kind of incident, instead of just simply calling 911 and the police, they hatch a plot to untangle the mess, cover-up, and move the body. What follows is a crazy misadventure that Stacey suggests would make a great new novel - a thriller mystery ride that’s so different from his previous, introspective novels. While this novel requires some suspension of disbelief as the two are lugging the corpse around Manhattan, there’s a brio to Aleman’s writing that’s infectious and we’re ready to be taken for the ride.
The Burning Stones by Antti Tuomainen
Hailing from Finland, Tuomainen has been dubbed the king of Helsinki noir in the past, then he did a turnaround and began writing mystery novels with a lot of dry humor and vulnerable protagonists. In his latest, we have Anni Korpinen, a successful middle-aged sauna stove sales person who’s stuck in an uninspired marriage. The founder of Steam Devil, Erkki, wants to retire, but the first successor he names has been found dead inside his home sauna, and it looks like it was no accident. Due to some extenuating circumstances, Anni has become the local police’s prime suspect, and it doesn’t help that the founder has publicly said that she was the next in line after the one who was murdered. It’s now left to Anni to prove her innocence, which she can only achieve by uncovering who really committed the crime, and is framing her.
What makes this crime mystery different is how it also celebrates middle age - a woman struggling with work and marriage. It becomes a crime caper marked by shafts of soft, tongue-in-cheek comedy, and we invest in Anni’s predicament as she could be you or me in another situation - as opposed to having some police detective, street vigilante, or idiot savant as our crime-solver. The gentle humor found in Tuomainen’s novels is a proven characteristic that’s present here. And he knows how to provide the plot twists and turns that keep us attentive as readers. They’ll come out of the blue and surprise us, without losing a sense of internal logic; which is always a good thing when it comes to mystery novels. That this is set in the regular corporate world, and not a Succession-type tale, also makes this so relatable. It’s about finding love while solving two mystery deaths.