by Stephen Spotswood (Spotswood)
For the May meeting of the libraries’ Just Desserts mystery book discussion group, participants were encouraged to sample the first 1 or 2 entries in ANY new mystery/suspense/thriller series, and report back to the group to share info about characters, setting, time period, writing style, etc., and whether or not they would continue with the series in the future. I randomly stumbled across the second in the new “Pentecost & Parker” series, tracked down the first, and proceeded to read them both to report back to the Just Desserts members. I am SO glad I found this series, as I absolutely loved both of these books.
Set in the late 1940s, Fortune Favors the Dead introduces our central narrator, Willowjean “Will” Parker, and her boss, legendary New York City private investigator Lillian Pentecost (something of a female Sherlock Holmes/Hercule Poirot). Will ran away from home at 15, joined a traveling circus as a roustabout and was subsequently taught the skills to serve as an assistant to many of the circus performers (knife throwing, animal handling, high wire and trapeze, etc.). With circus business on the decline, Will is encouraged by the circus owner to take a job with Ms. Pentecost, when Lillian recognizes skills in Will that could prove useful in her line of work. Lillian, meanwhile, suffers from multiple sclerosis, which creates increasing numbers of physical limitations to what she can do…so she desperately needs a “leg-man” to assist her with a lot of the physical investigations. In Fortune Favors the Dead, three years after they’ve first teamed up, Pentecost & Parker investigate a locked room mystery in which a socialite was brutally murdered — not long after her husband killed himself.
In Murder Under Her Skin, the murder of the tattooed lady in the circus Will used to travel with, calls Pentecost & Parker to a small town in Virginia, to try to prove that Will’s mentor, the circus’ knife thrower, didn’t commit the murder. The dramatic difference in setting, from New York City to Stoppard, Virginia provides a unique look at how Lillian Pentecost operates, and also gives us more insight into the background and emotional motivations of Will Parker.
This series is marvelous. Lillian and Will are terrific characters, who I want to learn more about. Will, through her actions, shows herself to be bi-sexual, and that very fact proves to be critical to solving the case in Fortune Favors the Dead. How this is handled, especially regarding characters living in the late 1940s, is impressively portrayed. Will’s patter throughout the novels is very reminiscent of the “tough guy” patois more commonly associated with male detectives of the noir and hard-boiled mystery sub-genres, and she is a refreshing and welcome addition to pantheon of private investigators. And the tidbits we learn about the background of Lillian in Murder Under Her Skin make her even more intriguing as a character. I can’t wait for the third volume, due out in December 2022! Highly recommended!
( official Pentecost & Parker and Stephen Spotswood web site )
Recommended
by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Services
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If you're a mystery fan, join us for this month's Just Desserts meeting tonight, June 30th, at 6:30 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett
Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. -- this
mystery-themed discussion group meets on the last Thursday of each
month, January through October. This month's espionage master John Le Carre's final novel, "Silverview". Even
if you haven't read this specific book, you can still participate, and
learn about great new mysteries to try! For more information, check out the
Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts
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1 comment:
Stephen Spotswood is a great author but we have never understood crime fiction as a genre. One of our crime book favourites is ostensibly an espionage thriller but it’s more of a complex whodunnit in a remarkably thrilling autobiography. The author delves deep into MI6’s unsung role during the troubles in dealing with organised crime sans frontiers. Entitled Beyond Enkription (misspelt on purpose), this fact based narrative by Bill Fairclough is set in 1974 and is about a British accountant working in London, Nassau and Port au Prince who unwittingly works for MI6 (later the CIA) while dealing with genuine organised crime.
To get the most out of it try some web research of the true crimes and events underlying the book. There is a lot out there once you start digging but as a minimum include a half hour read of one of the author's bios which don’t include spoilers. You’ll soon feel like you know his family. Don’t be put off by the quasi-educational prologue (in hindsight it’s essential reading) or the passing savagery of the opening chapter. You’ll keep on rereading this after conducting more research and unravelling increasingly enthralling historical material.
If you like raw historical or noir espionage thrillers you’ll love Beyond Enkription. Len Deighton and Mick Herron could be forgiven for thinking they co-wrote it. Atmospherically it's reminiscent of Ted Lewis' Get Carter of Michael Caine fame. If anyone ever makes a film based on Beyond Enkription they'll only have themselves to blame if it doesn't go down in history as a classic espionage thriller or even a true crime epic.
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