In order to avoid revealing any spoilers to other mystery fans, we will be meeting a half hour before the weekly Monday Murder Mystery diary. This will give us time and space to talk about whichever book we decide to read.
Since we did not come to a decision with last week's poll, let's try it again. The two books that tied for our first read are below the fold.
In the Woods
Tana French
Published by Viking Adult
May 17th 2007 (first published January 1st 2007)
429 pages
Barry Award for Best First Novel (2008)
Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel (2008)
Anthony Award for Best First Novel (2008)
Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author (2008)
Monday Murder Mystery
As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.
Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.
Richly atmospheric, stunning in its complexity, and utterly convincing and surprising to the end, In the Woods is sure to enthrall fans of Mystic River and The Lovely Bones. And look for French's new mystery, Broken Harbor, for more of the Dublin Murder Squad.
Published after affirmative action was amended to include women, but before Roe vs Wade, this P.D. James novel was one of the first of that era to portray a woman as a detective. Which was, as so many jobs at that time were,
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman
by P.D. James
Published by Faber and Faber (Now part of Macmillan)
1972
287 pages
Monday Murder Mystery
Handsome Cambridge dropout Mark Callender died hanging by the neck with a faint trace of lipstick on his mouth. When the official verdict is suicide, his wealthy father hires fledgling private investigator Cordelia Gray to find out what led him to self-destruction. What she discovers instead is a twisting trail of secrets and sins, and the strong scent of murder.
An Unsuitable Job for a Woman introduces P. D. James's courageous but vulnerable young detective, Cordelia Gray, in a "top-rated puzzle of peril that holds you all the way" (The New York Times).
Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel (1974)
Okay, your ballots are below, you know what you need to do.