2002 thriller/mystery; fifth of Granger's novels of Fran Varady,
would-be thespian and amateur sleuth. Fran's in a play, very amateur
and over a pub for one night only, but it's still acting work; and
she's waitressing at the trendy pizzeria that used to be the Hot Spud
Café. But something about it doesn't feel quite right, even before an
illegal immigrant boy comes in, desperate to find "Max".
Having multiple plot threads going on at the same time is a
miniature form of the split narrative: one runs the risk of one story
being more compelling than the other(s), so that the reader's keen to
get back to it and annoyed when the narrative switches. But Granger
pulls it off: the dodginess at the pizzeria may be linked to the kid,
or may not, and then there's the play, and then there's Susie Duke the
private detective who wants to get Fran to work for her and is bribing
her with driving lessons; there's a constant sense of not having
enough time to do everything, so Fran herself is frustrated at the
shifts between plots, but as a reader I could go along with it.
Fran continues to be prickly and self-sabotaging while developing a
rudimentary awareness that this is what she's doing to herself; and
more impressively, her inner monologue keeps me in sympathy with her
even while she's messing things up.
As before, the pacing is odd; the play's one performance is the
obvious place to put the other climactic events, but instead they're
spread out over the next few chapters (and days). But Fran is
interesting, the recurring cast have developed solid personalities,
and overall while this isn't world-changing detective fiction it is
rather enjoyable.
Something of a recovery after the disappointment of Risking It All.
Followed by Mixing with Murder.
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