reading lately: literary mysteries

Literary mysteries are books I define as being propelled by the mystery at their core, but at a slower pace than a straight up thriller or procedural, and with much more emphasis on character development, connections to a character's backstory, or potentially a bit of a genre mix (like being combined with a coming-of-age story, as with one example below). It's a bit of a "unicorn" genre, to be able to achieve the perfect mix of character and plot that satisfy both types of reader preferences, but when you find it, these are books that can be widely recommended to your plot-loving and character-driven reader friends alike. Three recent examples from my reading:

We Begin at the End

The residents of a small town in California are collectively remembering a major tragedy of their past, the murder of a young girl, when the man who was convicted of the crime, Victor King, is released on parole and is coming home to his long-empty family home. On a more personal level, we see how it affects Walk, who was close friends with Vincent growing up and is now the town's chief of police, and Duchess Day Radley, the pre-teen daughter of the victim's sister, Star, now an adult with substance abuse problems. Walk has to juggle the town's attitudes about Vincent's return along with his long-term guilt over being the one to provide the testimony that put Vincent behind bars when they were teenagers, and his feeling that he needs to do right by all of the people involved - looking out for Duchess and her brother Robin, as part of it, when Star is unable to. Duchess is quite a character herself though, and doesn't think she needs any looking after - she considers herself an "outlaw," an armor she puts on ;in order to protect herself from disappointment in her mother, and most of all to protect and provide for her 6-year-old brother, Robin. When trouble and tragedy come along with Vincent King's return, Walk and Duchess both take it head on, to protect those they care for. This is billed as a "thriller" in some of the blurbs, but it's really more of a slow burn, and really more about the characters and their relationships. The maturity that Duchess is forced to take on as a child, and the tragedies in her life and Robin's, are heartbreaking, but the resilience and resourcefulness made me fall in love with her, and while at times I was biting my nails to see how it would all turn out, I appreciated that overall the book left me with a note of hope. Similarly, I appreciated the depth of Walk's character, portrayed in how he straddled the line of what fit his moral code, and what was required of him as police chief. The book was blurbed by Louise Penny and Jane Harper, among others, so that tells you the promise this one holds - and kind of blew my mind that the author is a 40-something (?) British guy, for how well he wrote the perspective of a pre-teen girl and a small-town America police chief.

4.5/5 stars, excellent characters, great story and setting - definitely recommend

When Ghosts Come Home

Though the setting/era and story differ, this book reminded me of We Begin at the End with the small-town sheriff protagonist trying to do the right thing - and finding that what he feels is morally right doesn't' always align with what his job/the law would deem right. In a small, coastal North Carolina town, Sheriff Winston Barnes is woken in the night by a strange noise from the nearby airfield, which turns out to be what he least expects: a large cargo plane that has crash-landed, with no pilot in sight, and a dead young black man from the community lying nearby. This kicks off an investigation involving the FBI looking for drug dealers, and Winston trying to protect the fate of his community but also his job as he runs for re-election. Interspersed with the (slow-burn) investigation are the perspectives of Winston's adult daughter, coming home for a visit as she tries to cope with a recent pregnancy loss, and the teenaged brother-in-law of the murder victim, who gets caught up in the racial tensions in the town. This made for lots of emotional resonance and good character depth in terms of family relationships and community racial tensions, and I also really enjoyed the 1980s setting, the way family dynamics/past actions were woven into the mystery, and the overall plot with a slow burn that left me jaw-dropped in the end, based on how well everything tied together but also surprised me. Recommend for fans of books like We Begin at the End, or even Attica Locke's Bluebird, Bluebird; while less gritty perhaps, it similarly is a slow-burn mystery related to the town's past that brings to light how current racism still is.

4/5 stars, received an advance e-copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review; requested it as I have really liked Wiley Cash's earlier work too - check him out if you like southern fiction

Ordinary Grace

I went into this book expecting "mystery" because it is an Edgar Award winner - but I would say it reads much more as coming-of-age historical fiction, with a very slow burn uncovering of how some tragedies came about. In a small Minnesota town in the summer of 1961, 13-year-old Frank, son of the town's Methodist minister, came into contact with several deaths - accident, nature, suicide, and murder - which changed his life, family, and town forever. Frank narrates the story from 40 years later, describing how he came to make sense of the world and of faith as he learned about the secrets, lies, and betrayals of the adult world. There is some mystery to the deaths that befall the town that summer,  but rather than a thriller/procedural type mystery, it feels more like real life - the way deaths bring unanswered questions about what happened, who the person really was, and also, important to this book, the mystery of God and of grace in the face of tragedy. It has an overall quiet tone, but it's definitely compelling reading thanks to the authentic feel of Frank's narration, the excellent writing, and the heart.

4/5 stars, recommend if you enjoyed this author's recent book, This Tender Land, or books like Leif Enger's Peace Like a River for their mix of coming-of-age, spirituality, and Minnesota midwest sort of sensibility

Of course, I have a preference for literary mysteries that involve a detective (or sheriff, I guess, based on these ones), but the genre doesn't absolutely require it. A few other recent books that fit well into this "literary mystery" category and do it well, with great characters and emotional resonance: When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McClain, The Searcher by Tana French, and What Comes After by Joanne Tomkins.

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