Test your killer instincts: Here are 4 summer mysteries to solve
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Yvonne Zipp Features Editor
Pop quiz: Which of the following professions can help you jump-start your life as a crime solver?
鈥� TV detective
鈥� Magazine fact-checker
Why We Wrote This
Mysteries follow a reassuring pattern, with the perpetrators eventually brought to justice. Throw in quirky characters and well-designed plots, and you鈥檝e got some diverting summer reads.
鈥� Retired nurse
鈥� Reclusive lawyer
鈥� Ex-cop
鈥� Crossword puzzlemeister
Answer: All of the above, at least in the literary world. Let鈥檚 also not forget all those bakers and cat owners 鈥� and cat-owning bakers 鈥� who are out there at 4 a.m. restoring order to lawless societies before the rest of us roll out of bed.
Before we get to the written portion of our exam, I want to direct your attention, Gentle Reader, to a pair of new mystery series streaming on BritBox. One is delightfully fizzy, the other deliciously clever. Both feature excellent actors clearly having a marvelous time. In 鈥淒eath Valley,鈥� Timothy Spall and Gwyneth Keyworth play, respectively, a retired TV actor and the fangirl detective who has memorized every episode of his old show. (Imagine if David Suchet took up detecting in Wales after 鈥淧oirot鈥� went off the air.) In addition to the gloriously oddball pairing, there are lush landscapes, the Welsh language, and a cat named Alan. The comic joy never fails in 鈥淒eath Valley鈥�; the mysteries are perhaps slightly less rigorously plotted.
That鈥檚 not the case with the well-crafted 鈥淟udwig,鈥� starring David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin. The premise, it must be said, is absurd: A reclusive puzzle setter (as opposed to the extroverted sort) has to impersonate his missing twin, a police detective who disappeared while investigating a case. He is hapless enough that he keeps ending up at crime scenes surrounded by the police detectives he is lying to, and brilliant enough that he keeps spotting patterns and solving cases. Just go with it 鈥� you鈥檒l be glad you did.
Barrister-turned-investigator 聽 聽
In Sally Smith鈥檚 鈥淎 Case of Mice and Murder,鈥� barrister Gabriel Ward shares little with Horace Rumpole of 鈥淩umpole of the Bailey鈥� fame, other than a commitment to British law. But Gabriel hails from the same tradition pioneered by John Mortimer, Rumpole鈥檚 creator, and is, in the words of the Old Bailey hack, assuredly an 鈥渙ld sweetheart.鈥� Shy Gabriel loves his quiet life in the Inner Temple, surrounded by his books and the routines that his colleagues set their watches by. Then the lord chief justice of England ends up dead 鈥� and barefoot 鈥� on Gabriel鈥檚 doorstep. Gabriel is strong-armed into conducting a little 鈥済entle questioning鈥� rather than let the police overrun the august halls of the Temple. The mouse in question is a literary one: Gabriel is defending the publisher of a runaway children鈥檚 bestseller, 鈥淢illie the Temple Church Mouse,鈥� in a copyright case. The setting of the Inner Temple, which operated like Vatican City, is ingenious; Gabriel and his constable helper Maurice Wright are affable; and Smith carries off the interlinking plots with aplomb.
She bakes cakes 鈥� and solves murders聽
Many dominoes fall in 鈥淎 Murder for Miss Hortense,鈥� the debut novel of Mel Pennant, as old injustices stalk the Jamaican immigrant community of Bigglesweigh in west central England. Unable to access banks in the 1960s, the community set up a partnership in which members took turns investing money. Unable to access justice from the police, they took to investigating crimes themselves. Miss Hortense and her Black Cake Investigations were at the center of both endeavors. Then people started dying, and Miss Hortense was exiled from the community she had helped in so many ways. Decades later, people start dying again, and Miss Hortense has to step back in. This time, she has help: her nephew Gregory, who disregarded her advice and joined the police. The retired nurse and her black bag of useful items are formidable, as is her ability to diagnose at a glance if a person is lying or hiding something. Aside from their shared honorific and love of gardening, Miss Hortense and Miss Marple share two other characteristics: They have no problem believing the worst of small communities, and in their world they are almost always right.
Maori crime fighter
Family, history, and the traditions and language of the Maori people are always at the center of Michael Bennett鈥檚 excellent Hana Westerman series. The third, 鈥淐arved in Blood,鈥� is not the place to begin, but fans of the first two books will be highly invested in the stakes, which include two characters 鈥� both dear to Hana 鈥� in peril. The novel takes Hana full circle from 鈥淏etter the Blood,鈥� when she quit her beloved job as a detective senior sergeant after a case revealed how policing had damaged her and harmed her people. Now she鈥檚 back in her small New Zealand town helping the young people of her tribe find their way. What should be a time of celebrating her daughter鈥檚 engagement turns to horror when her ex-husband 鈥� a high-ranking detective 鈥� is gunned down during a convenience store robbery. To help solve his shooting, Hana finds herself being sworn back in as a low-ranking deputy. (Note: Everything I know about New Zealand policing comes from 鈥淏rokenwood Mysteries,鈥� but surely the ethics that govern conflicts of interest can鈥檛 be that different in Auckland?) 鈥淐arved in Blood鈥� also ends on a cliffhanger, so if those do not fill you with glee, perhaps wait for Book 4. But Hana; her dad, Eru; her daughter, Addison; and their extended family remain compelling reasons to read.
Fact-checker meets imperious detective
Liza Tully鈥檚 鈥淭he World鈥檚 Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant鈥� just about manages to live up to its irresistible title. Fact-checker Olivia Blunt trades journalism for life as assistant to the imperious, elegant Aubrey Merritt. Despite an inauspicious interview, Olivia gets the job by pointing out that she managed to track the 60-something detective to her home. 鈥淛ust a quarter turn of the dial would turn fact-checking into fact-finding,鈥� Olivia posits. Her English degree and reporting skills come in handy as she plays Watson to Aubrey鈥檚 Holmes. Their first case takes them to a family-owned luxury lodge in Vermont, where Victoria Summersworth supposedly threw herself off her balcony after her 65th birthday party, leaving the requisite note ... and plans for lunch with her family the next day. While trying to figure out whether it was murder or suicide, Aubrey and Olivia uncover decades鈥� worth of familial pain. 鈥淭he World鈥檚 Greatest Detective鈥� is a promising start to the series, but several secondary characters 鈥� including Olivia鈥檚 fianc茅 鈥� barely register.聽
