What would moody, modern private investigator Claire DeWitt say to the plucky girl detectives of the past, like Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew? Not much, if Sara Gran’s second Claire DeWitt mystery is any indication. Claire has little patience for perky. She just wants to solve her case and doesn’t need to be nice. So sometimes, she’s not. With Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway, novelist Sara Gran returns to the brilliant and twisted mind of her sarcastic sleuth as she stalks the streets of San Francisco on a murder case with personal meaning. Paul Casablancas, an old flame Claire never quite got over, has been murdered. Claire needs to know who did it and why.

A masochistic drug addict with a readiness to raid any medicine cabinet, Claire is an unlikely hero. And yet, she’s astonishingly thorough in gathering evidence. No clue is too small for Claire, and you’d better give her the details. What did you have for breakfast the morning of the murder? Cereal. What kind? Lucky Charms. Claire duly notes this on the back of an envelope, or in the stacks of paper scraps taking over her apartment. Her unconventional detective work, based on the writings of fictional detective Jacques Silette, relies on following every hunch. This method leads Claire on a fascinating journey as she consults Buddhist lamas, comic book collectors and punk rock musicians in her quest for answers.

Gran keeps Claire on the move both in her present-day murder case and in flashbacks to a parallel story of a missing friend in 1980s Brooklyn. The combination adds richness to Claire’s character by showing us her early days as a detective. It also keeps the tension high, as there are two mysteries to solve at once. As we get to know young Claire, her tough façade begins to fade, and we see the vulnerable girl who first fell in love with Paul. We feel for her as she draws closer to the dramatic final moments of the guitarist’s tumultuous life.

Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway is not a cozy, teatime mystery, but a gritty, realistic look at grief and the search for truth. Sara Gran has created an unforgettable character that readers will surely follow into her next adventure.

Author Lori Roy’s 2011 debut novel, Bent Road, was an Edgar Award winner. In her new novel, Until She Comes Home, Roy has created a tour-de-force of mood and suspense, where old habits and new realities collide in a drama played out in a gritty and memorable urban setting.

If language can be delicate and brutal at the same time, this is what Roy achieves in a beautifully written, dark exploration of fears both real and imagined, of old ways facing upheaval. The author’s stunning word pictures convey the air and mood almost of a fairy tale or fable—strange, laden with foreboding, dark around the edges where it may initially seem clear.

Detroit in 1958, a city on the verge of cataclysmic change, contains fading factory neighborhoods filled with close-knit families of a solid ethnic white. Families struggle to cope with the impending loss of livelihoods and the first inklings of ethnic diversity. Faced with facts both inevitable and unwelcome, the women of Alder Avenue respond according to their individual private inner fears and circumstances.

Racial tensions crackle like summer lightning when a mentally challenged 22-year-old white woman disappears, seemingly at her front gate, shortly after a local African-American woman is brutally murdered. Glass shards litter the street; the wheels of a baby carriage squeal disconcertingly on the pavement. A red-handled hammer disappears. Homemade carrot cake fills the stomachs of the husbands and the time of the women as the search continues for the missing girl. Children both born and unborn figure large, and terrible events can happen, unspoken and untold, behind closed doors up and down Alder Avenue.

Roy perfectly evokes these immaculately clad and mannered women, right down to their de rigueur white gloves and appropriate hats, all in contrast to the gritty realities assaulting their well-ordered lives. During the course of the book, readers are asked to encounter, and maneuver, the often stark differences between perception and reality that course through the pages.

In this book, small descriptions are never “fill”: each adds a layer to the developing story, as events assault and then change our minds and the action unfolds in a changing kaleidoscope. Roy has contributed a challenging, thoughtful and riveting story. Seeing the marvels she can create with words, we can only hope she’ll continue to share her talent with readers.

First-time author Robert Galbraith has added a singular new voice to the genre of crime fiction with his engaging debut novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling, which keeps the form of a classic mystery while introducing Detective Cormoran B. Strike, a private investigator straight out of today with a personality as offbeat as his name.

The story gains its considerable traction through two developing characters: the enthusiastic and curious Robin, a just-engaged young lady who signs on as a temp for Strike and begins to show her investigatory mettle; and Strike himself, whose rather frayed and shambling exterior hides a steady, methodical temperament and an “incurable habit of thoroughness.” He’s got a talent for remarking the details that others have passed over.

Not too far in the past, Strike was a special investigator with the military police in Afghanistan, where he lost part of a leg to a land mine. He was also engaged to a rich, beautiful and volatile woman, but the relationship ended in a hail of temper and thrown objects. Now, Strike sleeps on a cot in his office with his prosthetic leg, a stack of unpaid bills and one remaining client.

Strike receives a burst of luck when he unexpectedly gains a new case: John Bristow, a well-to-do lawyer who can pay in advance (critical for Strike), wants proof that his sister Lula, a high-living and famous model, did not jump to her death but was pushed off the third-floor balcony of her penthouse apartment. The case was closed three months earlier and her death ruled a suicide, but Bristow’s convinced that the police have failed to follow up on all the leads, and he wants Strike to find the person responsible for Lula’s death.

This engrossing story boasts a fascinating cast of fast-track suspects both repellent and attractive. Most are Lula’s compatriots, full-of-themselves celebs and hangers-on with a knack for drugs, disaster and evasion. Front and center are Somé, Lula’s exclusive designer; Evan, a temperamental boyfriend fond of wearing a wolf mask; and Deeby Macc, a streetwise rapper with chutzpah. Then there’s the couple on the second floor of Lula’s exclusive building, one of whom claims Lula was not alone just prior to her fatal plunge. Add to this list the elusive Rochelle, a homeless woman with a connection to Lula, and the result is a page-turner featuring an uncommon hero with faces both contemporary and retro.

Editor's Note: Months after this review was assigned and published, it was revealed that "Robert Galbraith" is a pseudonym for best-selling author J.K. Rowling. More details here.

Elanor Dymott’s debut novel skillfully combines the visceral thrill of a murder mystery with the psychological portrait of a grieving man. In Every Contact Leaves a Trace, Dymott sets young English lawyer Alex Petersen on a quest to solve the brutal murder of his wife Rachel, who was struck down on Midsummer Night at their alma mater, Worcester College, Oxford. To track down Rachel’s killer, Alex must face his own sorrow, and also some unsettling revelations about the wife he thought he knew so well.

Dymott plays a measured game of hide-and-seek with the facts of the case, doling them out at a stately pace that matches the tradition-steeped setting. Disclosures from Rachel’s reticent English Literature tutor, Harry Gardner, tantalize and torture an increasingly perplexed and anxious Alex. Did his beloved wife really have a secret past, or is Harry keeping some secrets of his own? Dymott repeatedly brings Alex—and the reader—right up to the edge of an answer, before turning back in time and considering other perspectives. This sense of the ground moving beneath your feet mirrors Alex’s internal confusion as he tries to understand the enigma that was Rachel Cardanine.

Comparisons to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History seem inevitable, as Dymott similarly reveals the debauchery that can exist behind even the most revered collegiate traditions. Fireside tutorials, afternoon teas and costumed balls create a falsely comforting front for what’s really going on behind the rose garden walls: experimentation with sensual pleasure and pain that blurs the boundaries between good and evil. Rachel and her confederates are impressive poetry scholars in their tutor’s presence, but seem not to be above blackmail—or worse—when his back is turned.

How exactly did Rachel reconcile those boundaries? Is her murder simply proof to the contrary? As Alex gradually fills in the missing pieces of the puzzle, readers come to see this mysterious young woman’s life, and death, in a surprising new light.

Anne Perry’s fine new book, Midnight at Marble Arch, features her well-known series duo Charlotte and Thomas Pitt in their familiar setting of Victorian England.

Readers of Perry’s engrossing novels know to expect the highest quality in both story and characterization, plus a continuation of the familiar and finely drawn characters from previous books in the series. But in this story, the unexpected and in-depth treatment of the subject of rape gives the book a timely, almost modern feel. The descriptions and language may be straight out of 1896, but the attitudes and arguments are still relevant today.

The dark debates in Anne Perry's newest Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mystery ring true even today.

Thomas Pitt, now head of Britain’s Special Branch, joins forces with Victor Narraway, his friend and the agency’s former head, to investigate several violent attacks on women. Narraway responds to the scene of a violent rape and the subsequent death of Catherine Quixwood, wife of a successful merchant banker. Likewise, Pitt and his wife are present at a society function when the daughter of the Portuguese ambassador apparently commits suicide, leaping through a window to her death. Charlotte, however, fears she was frightened into an accidental plunge after coming face-to-face with a young man who had previously raped her. Charlotte’s suspicions are strengthened after another woman privately names the same man as her rapist. The suspect is the scion of another prominent banking family of considerable means, to whom many are financially indebted. No one dares point a finger without an airtight case, and the frightened families aren’t talking.

Perry is adept at tempting us with the impossible—and perhaps inevitable—solution, as well as making us watch what we think are surefire clues go up in smoke. A discussion of attitudes toward the crime of rape is woven into the fabric of the plot, and we come to realize we’ve heard many of the same thoughts expressed in our own time. The author seamlessly connects the separate storylines and reveals multiple sides of various suspects, making us wary of convicting the most obvious.

Perry’s fans will also have the pleasure of witnessing a developing relationship between likeable series characters Narraway and Charlotte’s great-aunt Vespasia, as their growing bond, slight at first, becomes a crucial part of the story.

Although the author’s intricate prose gets a little repetitive and overwrought at times, we’re hooked on this provoking and tightly woven book to the very last page.

Screenwriter and reluctant sleuth Billy Winnetka returns for an encore performance in Robert Weibezahl’s latest “Hollywood and Crime” mystery, The Dead Don’t Forget. Billy spins the tale in the first person, with an amused world-weariness born and nurtured in the movie industry.

Summoned to the stately Hancock Park home of faded film star Gwendolyn Barlow, Billy allows himself to be coaxed into a couple of things he typically tries to avoid: a bit of detective work (in this case, looking into the threatening phone calls Barlow claims to have received over the past several months); and reading someone else’s movie script (in this case, Barlow’s original piece, A Ladder to Paradise, penned some 50 years before).“Just what Hollywood needed. A World War II romance written during World War II. Picture trying to pitch that to a young studio executive who probably didn’t even know they made movies before Star Wars.” The script turns out not to be where Gwendolyn left it, however; in its place, in the original faded manila envelope, is a red-stained paper, on which is scrawled “Hurry Up and Die . . .”

Is this on the level, or simply the melodramatic antics of a one-time star too long out of the spotlight? Billy Winnetka will find out soon enough, but not soon enough to prevent a murder. The Dead Don’t Forget is one of those rare second books of a series that outshines its predecessor; looking forward to installment number three!

Note: As faithful BookPage readers might have recognized, Robert Weibezahl is a fellow BookPage columnist; that said, if I hadn’t thoroughly enjoyed The Dead Don’t Forget, I would have politely declined the opportunity to review it!

Erin Hart’s fourth novel in her acclaimed Nora Gavin series blends Irish legend and archaeology with present-day murder in a sad tale tinged with sweetness. In The Book of Killowen, American pathologist Nora and Irish archaeologist Cormac Maguire are building a quiet life together in Ireland, healing Nora’s wounds and caring for Cormac’s elderly father, Joseph. Absent for much of his son’s childhood, Joseph is now suffering from a stroke, his ability to speak frustratingly garbled. When a bog body is found in Tipperary, near Killowen Bog, the trio and Joseph’s new caregiver move to Killowen Farm, a nearly idyllic retreat center and artist’s colony, to take over the excavation.

But the bog body has a modern companion—a murder victim. Detective Stella Cusack is eager to solve the crime, and the string of incidents that follow it, before losing the case to higher ups. Fortunately, her assistant has the experience with antiquities that she lacks. The murdered man’s identity is quickly discovered, and suspicions center on his estranged wife and her companion, frequent guests at Killowen Farm. But despite his brilliance, he had no shortage of faults—or enemies.

While Cusack untangles the secrets of the residents and neighbors, and their ties to the victim, Nora and Cormac study the treasures found with Bog Man for clues to his identity and his relationship to an ancient scriptorium once located nearby. Could he be the mysterious 9th-century philosopher and author of the controversial Book of Killowen? And where is the book? New secrets touch on the old, leading to blackmail and fiery danger.

The first book in the Nora Gavin series, Haunted Ground (2003), was nominated for Agatha and Anthony Awards for Best First Novel. In The Book of Killowen—Killowen means “Church of Owen”—Hart explores not only the mysteries of the Irish bogs, but also the ancient and modern mysteries of language and the power of secrets. Hart’s own language sings with sharp and powerful observations, of what she calls “characters in the great book of human events.” Pour yourself a Guinness, or brew a pot of tea, and dig in.

Leslie Budewitz’s debut mystery, Death al Dente, first in The Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, will be published by Berkley Prime Crime in August 2013. 

The Sound of Broken Glass, the 15th entry in Deborah Crombie’s popular series featuring Det. Inspector James and Det. Superintendent Kincaid, often flashes back to the seedy Crystal Palace neighborhood in southeast London. The area once boasted the famous Crystal Palace building, a huge glass exhibition hall reconstructed from its famous Hyde Park original in 1854, but then burned to the ground in a spectacular fire in 1936. The novel builds its core from the memories of those who once inhabited the neighborhood and had heard of the spectacular building, and the recurring theme of lives as fragile as glass weaves its way throughout Crombie’s new Gemma James/Duncan Kincaid mystery novel.

Broken Glass picks up the pieces of several interlocking stories from the past, all of which seem to have their genesis in the Crystal Palace neighborhood. Years earlier, Andy, a lonely but musically talented adolescent boy who’s often beset by older neighborhood bullies, befriends Nadine, a young widow. Tragedy and a mysterious betrayal appear to cause an end to the friendship, and Nadine disappears from the neighborhood.

In the present day, Andy, now beginning to make a name for himself as a rock guitarist, seems to be connected to the grisly death of a barrister. The victim confronted Andy during a performance just prior to the murder, which took place a bit later in a derelict hotel. When a second, similar murder of a barrister occurs, Scotland Yard takes up the trail in earnest.

Gemma and Duncan, now married, alternate childcare responsibilities, with Gemma currently at Scotland Yard while Duncan stays home on childcare leave. Gemma and her young assistant, Det. Sergeant Melody Talbot, seek to determine the tragic circumstances that bind Andy’s past and present in bonds that seem unbreakable. Duncan joins the sleuthing when he realizes that the young guitarist figured into a former case.

Those familiar with Crombie’s earlier novels will be pleased that this entry matches her previous books in suspense and writing prowess. Newcomers to the series will find a welcome backlog of previous James/Kincaid novels to whet their appetite after discovering this fine novel.