2020 mystery, second in the loose Harbinder Kaur series. An old woman
is found dead by her care vistior. Nothing unexpected about that.
Except that there's a threatening note tucked into the book she was
reading, and she had a business card as a "Murder Consultant"…
This book is the reason I've met Grrifiths' writing at all: I was
searching for books (which mostly don't exist) about PostScript, the
programming language, and this showed up. But it's taken me this long
to work my way back to this point in Griffiths' writing career.
This is not quite as literary as The Stranger Diaries, but that
definitely seems to be Griffiths' preferred mode, with the personal
lives of the characters being as important as the murders; the
ephemeral cast this time includes an ex-monk now running a coffee
shop, a Ukrainian carer with a shady past, and an ageing former BBC
worker, and of course each of them has problems that will need to be
worked out.
Harbinder completes her last batch of filing and mentally awards
herself a gold star. 'Best Gay Sikh Detective in West Sussex', first
out of a field of, well, one. Still, a gold star is a gold star.
A famous crime writer is unambiguously murdered, shot in the head,
and matters escalate to a literary festival in Aberdeen and a safe
house on the Scottish coast. There are some good solid red herrings
and a pleasing late twist. But what I think Griffiths is having most
fun with here is her portrayal of the publishers, writers and fans of
murder mysteries, getting into a bit more depth than many authors
manage.
There's less of the gothic feel of The Stranger Diaries but I still
found this enjoyable. It wouldn't stand on its own without the
murders, though.