Ali Karim was a Board Member of Bouchercon [The World Crime & Mystery Convention] and co-chaired programming for Bouchercon Raleigh, North Carolina in 2015. He is Assistant Editor of Shots eZine, British correspondent for The Rap Sheet and writes and reviews for many US magazines & Ezines.
Swanson returns to the novella format with his latest work, a narrative so judiciously edited that the 150 pages almost turn themselves. Like the author’s previous work, it is an extremely dark narrative cloaked under the writing style of a cheerfully jolly golden age mystery. Once the climax is reached, the reader feels obligated to return to the beginning, not just to re-examine and reflect upon the path of the story – but to re-live this rare treat a second time and see what was missed on the first reading.
The set-up is deceptively simple. Novelist Nicholas Child is invited to lunch in a swanky New York restaurant by his literary agent Linda Barkin of Barkin Associates. Child has travelled from his Boston home by bus, as he no longer runs a car. He recalls his first lunch with Linda in the lead-up to the sale of his debut novel ‘Dark at its Rising’, when optimism in his future career fuelled his drinking. Sales had been average, though his sophomore effort [a direct sequel featuring his ‘ghostlike detective’ Adam Noone] ‘Though No One Pursues You’ had received a less than lukewarm reception. His agent had indicated that he should pursue a third work, but was far less enthusiastic than she had been when Nicholas had sold his debut work [as he no longer held a publishing contract]. Child is therefore curious why Linda has called him out of the blue for lunch at the swanky Casa Sacha in New York.
The pretext for the lunch is a curious writing proposal. Linda Barkin explains that she also represents Marco Tavares, a writer whose first two novels examined the lives of New England working-class fisherman from the Portuguese community. They sold average numbers, but Marco’s third novel was a ‘black swan event’ – the international thriller ‘The Girl at the Door’. It was published as M.A. Tavares as opposed to Marco Tavares [in an attempt by the publisher to distance it from Marco’s earlier work]. ‘The Girl at the Door’ spent over 18 months in the New York Times Top Ten Hardcover Bestseller Chart. However the success appears to have paralysed Marco’s own writing efficacy, as he struggled to complete a follow-up. Linda explains that he had travelled to Italy for inspiration. The plan is that on his return in December he will complete it over the Christmas holiday at his beach-front house Grey Gables. And Linda’s motive for asking Nicholas to lunch is to suggest that he meet Marco at Grey Gables, and spend the Christmas Holiday assisting him to complete the M.A. Tavares’ third novel which has a working title ‘The Imposter’. Linda offers Child a fee of $50,000 dollars [half up front, and half after completion of the assignment]. It is made clear that Child is not being hired as ‘ghost-writer’, but an editorial helper who can assist Marco lick ‘The Imposter’ into shape. Linda remarks that Child was chosen personally by Marco, as his literary ‘helper’ because he has warm memories of a writer’s retreat [the ‘Naskeag Colony’] he shared with Nicholas a decade earlier in Maine. Marco’s wife Maeve [nee-Finch] also considered Nicolas Child an ideal choice as her husband’s literary helper. She also indicates that magnificent Grey Gables [the house that ‘The Girl at the Door’ built] will also have several guests joining Nicholas and Marco over the Christmas holiday, as they work on ‘The Imposter’ manuscript.
With Nicholas Child’s acceptance, the stage is set and the guests arrive for this Christmas Murder Mystery.
With festivities in full swing and drink flowing like water - a brutal murder occurs inside Grey Gables, while outside on the beach-front lies another corpse. The police appear, and an investigation opens, thus closing off the first act in this three-act murder mystery.
Swanson provides a concise character list of the people who stay at Grey Gables which proves most useful because like most ‘locked room’ mysteries dark motives come in [and out] of focus.
Apart from Marco’s family which include his wife Maeve, sister ‘Cat’ [aka Catherine] and Grandmother Louisa – other guests include Marco’s former girlfriend Eve Margolis and her husband Ben, friends Billy Sousa and James Beers as well as Nicholas Child – fellow mystery writer. There’s even a house-cat amusingly named Brigid O’Shaughnessy.
The second and third acts move back and forward in time, and recollections become unreliable at best, or distortions at worst.
Crime and Mystery Books are referenced throughout the novella as classic titles lay on shelves in Marco’s library at Grey Gables as well as from Nicholas’ collection of first editions from his shelves in Boston.
Nicholas remarks after picking up Marcus’ copy of The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley “I remember thinking how easy it is to find a hiding place in houses that have lots of books.”
A wonderful narrative, though short in terms of length, it has considerable heft in terms of insight into human conscience and how it affects the lives [and motivations] of people who have morals, and those who lack them.
Whether right or wrong, you’ll be recalling this novella long after you put it down.
