Two Unusual Detection Mystery Books

Great vacation reading

I received two detective books for Christmas and took them on vacation two weeks ago. Read them on the plane and whenever we weren’t hiking – in Joshua Tree NP – or walking around Palm Springs. My wife knows my interest in such mysteries and picked out two great ones.

I had not heard of Tana French before reading The Searcher, which is my bad. An American now living in Ireland, she’s been writing for almost two decades and her Dublin Murder Squad series has made her name. The Searcher (2020) tells the story of a missing person investigation by a retired Chicago cop now living in a small Irish village. Just off an unpleasant divorce, Cal Hooper does not want to ever do police work again but is drawn into the search by someone who just will not take no for an answer. Hooper has no police powers and understands that as an outsider in this small rural community, he has no idea of what he will be getting himself into. But his Chicago street sense and calm approach take him deep into the currents of local life with just a few knocks on the head (and some heavy drinking). I had trouble not reading just one more chapter and plan on reading the sequel.

Blaze Me A Sun (2021) by Christoffer Carlsson also offered an unusual twist. Wonderfully translated from Swedish, Carlsson – a criminologist – presents the book as the work of a fictional criminologist who looks into a murder done decades ago, the same day as Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated in 1986. The bleak, rugged setting sets the stage for a deep dive into the lives of people who don’t yet know their connections. Two policemen, who happen to be father and son, join the past to the present. I read this one straight through as well.